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Pitt Press Series 



COWLEY'S PROSE WORKS 



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C. F. CLAY, Manager. 

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A^,?AHAN COWLEY 



PROSE WORKS 

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 

J. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. 



CAMBRIDGE 
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1909 






'b'A^ 



Firsi Edition 1887. 
Reprinted 1891, 1902, 1909. 



^'^ :. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Intioductory Notice of Cowley and his Works . . vii — xx 

A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental 

Philosophy . . . . . • . . . i — 19 

A Discourse by way of Vision concerning the Go\'ernment 

of Oliver Cromwell ...... 20 — 64 

Essays (I. — XL) ' , . 65—177 

Preface to 'Cutter of Coleman Street ' . , , . 178 — 185 

Notes . c . 187 — 244 

Index . 245—248 



L. C. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
COWLEY. 



Abraham Cowley, the son of Thomas Cowley ^ a citizen 
of London, was born in 1618. The father died before his 
boy's birth, so that he was brought up by a widowed mother. 
Of her character he speaks most affectionately in his Essays^. 
He appears to have been tenderly cared for also by his 
godfather ; to whom in the Sylva, a collection of the poems 
of his early years, he writes : 

' I'm glad that city to whom I ow'd before 
(But ah me! Fate hath crest that willing score:) 
A father, gave me a godfather too, 
And I'm more glad because it gave me you, 

Whom I may rightly think and term to be 

Of the whole city an epitome^.' 

Cowley's was no eventful life, and it is possible from his 
writings to make such a notice of him as it is proposed to 
give largely autobiographical. 

He describes in the essay already quoted his shy and 
retiring manner which led him to steal away from his school- 
fellows into the fields, with a book for his company. The 
books of his choice however were not dry schoolbooks, for 

^ Dr Johnson, following Wood, says the father was a grocer 
and that the omission of his name in the register of St Dunstan's 
parish gives reason to suspect that he was a sectary. 

^ See p. 170. 

^ Sylva, p. 46. For convenience of reference all the quotations 
are made from the collected edition of Cowley's works 1684. 

b2 



viii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

by no persuasions (he says) or encouragements could he be 
induced to commit to memory the common rules of grammar. 
Reading and observation however gave him the power of 
doing the requisite school-exercises to the satisfaction of his 
teachers. He ascribes his first attraction to poetry to the 
study of a copy of Spenser's poems which lay in his mother's 
parlour, unused by her, but a treasure of interest for her 
young son, who was charmed with the tales of knights and 
giants and monsters and brave houses scattered all through 
the Faby Queen. 

The study of such literature led to early attempts at 
verse-writing, and Pirarnus and Thisbe^ followed by Con- 
stantia and Philetiis. attest the mental food on which Cowley 
had been reared. The latter of these youthful productions 
was dedicated to the Dean of Westminster, to whom he says 
' I hope your nobleness will rather smile at the faults com- 
mitted by a child than censure them.' The Pirarnus and 
Thisbe had been inscribed to Mr Lambert Osbolston, then 
Headmaster of Westminster, where Cowley was being 
educated, as ' the earliest offering of his grateful pen.' 

Cowley retained much regard and many pleasant memo- 
ries of his school-life, as we can see from a poem on the 
death of Mr Jordan, who was second Master at Westminster. 
Of him he says, 'And though he taught but boys, he made 
them men.' And again, 

' So true, so faithful and so just as he 
Was nought on earth, but his own memorie.' 

During these school-days Cowley produced an English 
play, with the title 'Love's Riddle, a Pastoral Comedy.' 
This, on its publication at a later time (1638) he dedicated 
(for nothing passed in those days without a dedication) ' to 
the truly worthy and noble. Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight,' and 
makes allusion in so doing to the learned as well as to the 
martial fame of Sir Kenelm : 

' Learning by right of conquest is your own, 
And every liberal art your captive grown.' 

At a later period these boyish productions were reprinted, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. ix 

and in his address 'To the reader' Cowley then says 'I 
'should not be angry to see any one burn my Piramus and 
'Thisbe, nay I would do it myself, but that I hope a pardon 
'may easily be gotten for the errors of ten years of age. My 
'Constantia and Philetus confesseth me two years older 
'when I writ it/ 

In the 3rd edition there were added to the above-named 
longer poems a collection of shorter pieces under the title of 
Sylva. Among these one is addressed to a former school- 
fellow, named Nichols, who had preceded Cowley to the 
University, and had sent him an invitation to visit him in 
Cambridge. Cowley's reply looks forward to a time when he 
would himself come into residence : 

' 'Tis my chief wish to live with thee, 
But not till I deserve thy company : 
Till then we'll scorn to let that toy, 
Some forty miles, divide our hearts : 
Write to me and I shall enjoy 
Friendship and wit, thy better parts.' 

But in the few notices which we have of Cowley's college 
life we find no further mention of Nichols. 

It was in 1637 that Cowley entered Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, as a Westminster scholar. He took the oath and was 
admitted on the 14th of June in that year. In due course he 
became a Fellow of the College, and his admission to a 
Minor fellowship is dated Oct. 30th, 1640. There is no 
record of his admission as a major Fellow, and it is probable 
that in those troublous times he was obliged to leave Cam- 
bridge without proceeding to a full degree. In the list of 
major Fellows where his name should have appeared, as it 
had stood before in the other lists between those of Humphry 
Babington and William Croyden, it is absent. Cowley 
alludes to the public troubles as the reason why he left Cam- 
bridge, in the dedicatory Latin elegy prefixed to his col- 
lected works. Addressing his Alma Mater, he writes 

' Scis bene, scis quae me lempestas publica mundi 
Raptatrix vestro sustulit e gremio.' 



X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

And testifies to the love which he had for Cambridge 
thus : 

* O mihi jucundum Grantae super omnia nomen ! 
O penitus toto corde receptus amor ! ' 

We have not to wait long after the commencement of his 
residence before we come upon signs of the poet's literary 
activity. 

On the 2nd of February, 1638, there was performed in 
Trinity College a Latin Comedy written by Cowley, entitled 
Nanfragiitui Joculare^ the scene of which is laid at Dunkirk. 
Dr Comber, Dean of Carlisle, was then Master of Trinity, 
and to him the play was dedicated, and in the closing lines 
of the Latin verses in which it is presented, the writer allows 
himself to look forward to a fellowship in the future and 
promises by that time to produce something better. 

' Collegii nam qui nostri dedit ista scholaris, 
Si socius tandem sit, meliora dabit.' 

On another occasion also during his residence at Cam- 
bridge Cowley's dramatic power was exhibited, but this time 
in English. In March 164^, Charles Prince of Wales (after- 
wards Charles IL), being then somewhat less than 12 years of 
age, visited the University, the king his father also passing 
through on his way to Huntingdon. For the entertainment 
of the young prince a play was hastily arranged ^ This was 
The Guafdian, which Cowley afterwards remodelled and 
published as Cuttei' of Coleman Street. In the prologue, 
addressed to the prince, the author alludes to the hurried way 
in which it had been produced. 

' Accept our hasty zeal ; a thing that's play'd 
Ere 'tis a play, and acted ere 'tis made.' 

^ In the books of Trinity College among dae 'Extraordinaries' 
for 1642 is the entry 'To M"" Willis for D^ Cooley's Comoedy 
£()^. i6j.' The spelling 'Cooley' occurs more than once in the 
College books. Cf. 'Cooper' and 'Cowper.' For the particulars 
in this sketch which are derived from the Trinity College records I 
am indebted to the kindness of Mr W. Aldis Wright, Fellow and 
Senior Bursar of the College. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xi 

And in the Epilogue, expressing a doubt whether the 
'Great Sir' (of eleven years) before whom it had been pre- 
sented would approve, he says : 

' Though it should fall beneath your mortal scorn, 
Scarce could it die more quickly than 'twas born.' 

A letter is preserved^ which gives us some notice of this 
royal entertainment. The writer was Joseph Beaumont, 
afterwards Master of Peterhouse, and of the play he tells us : 
'From the Regenthouse his Highness (Prince Charles) 
'went to Trinity College, where after dinner he saw a 
'Comedy in English and gave all signs of great acceptance 
'which he could, and more than the University dared expect.' 
The later history of this play is given in the preface which is 
here reprinted^ after the Essays. 

Of the friends whom Cowley made in Cambridge we do 
not know much, and perhaps the retiring manner of his boy- 
hood did not leave him when he entered the University. 
Yet over the death of one Mr William Harvey he has left us 
a lamentation which, if it be marked by some of those con- 
ceits which were deemed essential to poetry in his day, is yet 
very full of feeling. 

' He was my friend, the truest friend on earth,' 

he wrote ; and again 

' Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say, 
Have ye not seen us walking every day? 
Was there a tree about which did not know 

The love betwixt us two. 
Henceforth, ye gentle trees, for ever fade 

Or your sad branches thicker join 

And into darksome shades combine ; 
Dark as the grave wherein my friend is laid.' 

It was by Mr John Harvey, the brother of this friend, 
that Cowley was subsequently introduced^ to Henry Jermyn, 

^ See Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, Vol. ill. ■^i\. 
^ See pp. 1 78 seqq. 

^ Wood {Athen. Oxon.) says it was Dr Stephen Goffe, a brother 
of the Oratory, who commended Cowley to Jermyn. 



xii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

afterwards Baron Jermyn, and subsequently Earl of St 
Alban's, an introduction which affected the whole future 
course of Cowley's life. 

Another friend made in Cowley's university life was 
Richard Crashaw, the poet. He was a little senior to 
Cowley, having been elected from Pembroke Hall to a 
fellowship at Peterhouse in the year in which Cowley came 
up. Crashaw during the troublous times was, like Cowley, 
ejected from his fellowship and subsequently joined the 
Church of Rome. For some time he lived in Italy as 
secretary to Cardinal Palotta and was eventually made 
Canon of the church at Loretto, but soon after died of a 
fever. Cowley wrote a poem on his death which testifies to 
the warm attachment that existed between the two and 
deserves to be ranked among the best of Cowley's verses. 
In one passage he compares himself to Elisha and his friend 
to Elijah, and continues, 

' I^o here I beg (I whom thou once didst prove 
So humble to esteem, so good to love,) 
Not that thy spirit might on me doubled be, 
I ask but half thy mighty spirit for me ; 
And when my muse soars with so strong a wing, 
'Twill learn of things divine, and first of thee to sing.' 

The allusion to Crashaw's change of religion is extremely 
tender and full of charity : 

' Pardon, my mother Church, if I consent 
That angels led him when from thee he went ; 
For even in error sure no danger is 
When joined witli so much piety as his. 
His faith perhaps in some nice tenents might 
Be wrong: his life, I'm sure, was in the right. 
And I myself a Catliolick will be, 
So far at least, great saint, to pray to thee.' 

Concerning other Cambridge friends of Cowley's we 
have no record. The books of Trinity College shew that 
he was admitted and sworn as a minor Fellow on the 30th 
of October, 1640. But though admitted there cannot have 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xiii 

been a fellowship vacant for him^, since in 1642 his name 
appears still among the Scholars, and similarly in 1643, 
though in that year he stands first in the list. Early in 
the next year (Feb. 5, 164!) came the commission of the 
Earl of Manchester 'to take special care that the solemn 
League and Covenant be tendered and taken in the 
University of Cambridge,' which resulted in almost universal 
ejection of Masters and Fellows. Cowley, and with him 
Humphry Babington, was among the ejected members of 
Trinity College, and if Dr Sprat's statement be correct^ 
that he Svas absent from his native country above 12 
years,' he must have gone from Cambridge to Oxford at 
once and begun that attendance on Baron Jermyn-^ which 
lasted till 1656. It was in 1644 that, after the birth of a 
daughter at Exeter, queen Henrietta Maria was helped 
by the vessels of the Prince of Orange to cross from 
Falmouth into France, and Cowley's service appears to 
have kept him constantly with the queen, on whom Jermyn 
was perpetually attendant. In 1648 Clarendon (x. 175) 
describes the position of Jermyn as her Majesty's chief 
officer, and it was in this period that Cowley was so largely 
employed in cyphering and decyphering* with his own hand 

^ It was allowed at that time, as it now is under the new 
Statutes, to elect to fellowships even when there was no vacancy, the 
elected persons undertaking to naake no claim till the number of 
fellows was sufficiently reduced to admit them to a dividend. Thus 
Babington, Ti-avis, Campian, Culverwell and Burton signed an en- 
gagement on March 21, 1641 not to 'claim any profitts of our 
fellowships till places fall that we come into numbers.' 

2 Wood says about 10 years. He also tells us that on going 
from Cambridge Cowley settled in St John's College, Oxford. 
During the year 1643, while resident in Oxford, he published under 
the name of 'an Oxford Scholar' a satire called 'the Puritan and the 
Papist,' but this he never included among his acknowledged writings. 

^ Mr Jermyn was made a Baron in 1643. See Clarendon vii. 242. 

* Clarendon (x. 22) speaks of a letter from the king which 
was decyphered by the Lord Jermyn, a task probably performed 
by the poet, who then {1646) had been about two years in Paris. 



xiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

the letters which passed between their Majesties that for 
some years together the labour of this correspondence took 
up all his days and two or three nights every week. These 
duties continued after the execution of Charles I., and were 
only brought to an end when Charles II. left the queen 
in France and departed to the Low Countries. Then 
apparently in 1656 Cowley returned to England and was 
presently arrested in mistake for some other person, and 
only released from custody on the security of Dr Scar- 
borough ^ who was his bail for ;^iooo. 

It was during his residence in France that most of those 
Poems which he entitles 'The Mistress' must have been 
written, for they were separately published in 1647 and 
included in the collected poems which he put forth soon 
after his return to England. 

The occasion of that collection is best told in his own 
words, 'At my return lately into England I met by great 
'accident (for such I account it to be that any copy of it 
'should be extant anywhere so long, unless at his house 
'who printed it) a book intituled 'The Iron Age' and published 
'under my name during the time of my absence. I wondered 
'very much how one who could be so foolish to write so 
'ill verses should yet be so wise to set them forth as another 
'man's rather than his own : though perhaps he might 
'have made a better choice, and not fathered the bastard 
'upon such a person whose stock of reputation is, I fear, 
'little enough for maintenance of his own numerous legiti- 
'mate offspring of that kind.' 

In the preface from which the above is an extract Cowley 
complains of 'the publication of some things of his without 
'his consent or knowledge, and those so mangled and im- 
* perfect that he could neither with honour acknowledge nor 
'with honesty quite disavow them.' To such treatment his 
Comedy The Guardian had been subjected, and the conduct 
of others towards his writings is pleaded as the reason for the 

^ To the celebration of Dr Scarborough's skill in medicine 
Cowley devotes one of his 'Pindarique Odes' (p. 35). 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xv 

appearance of the volume. In this Preface the poet states 
that his desire has been for some years past, and does still 
vehemently continue, to retire himself to some of the American 
plantations, and to bury himself there in some obscure 
retreat. 

The contents of the volume, in the preface to which 
Cowley thus relates a part of his history and intentions, are 
(i) 'The Miscellanies,' some of which he says were 'made 
'when I was very young, which it is perhaps superfluous to 
'tell the reader.' (2) 'The Mistress' or 'Love Verses,' written 
because 'so it is that poets are scarce thought free-men of 
'their company, without paying some duties, and obliging 
'themselves to be true to Love.' Most assuredly, however, it 
would be difficult to point to any other verses on the same 
subject, with less fire in them. (3) Next follow the 'Pin- 
darique Odes,' of whose versification the poet tells us 'the 
'numbers are various and irregular, and sometimes seem 
'harsh and uncouth if the just measures and cadencies be 
'not observed in the pronunciation. So that almost all their 
'sweetness... lies wholly at the mercy of the reader.' In 
one of these Odes, Cowley describes the style thus^ : 

' 'Tis an unruly and a hard-mouth'd horse, 

Fierce and unbroken yet, 

Impatient of the spur or bit. 
Now praunces stately, and anon flies o'er the place. 
Disdains the servile law of any settled pace, 
Conscious and proud of his own natural force, 

'Twill no unskilful touch endure, 
But flings writer and reader too that sits not sure.' 

of which last remark any one will surely find the truth who 
tries to read them. The last portion of the volume was 
(4) 'The Davideis,' or an heroical poem of the troubles of 
David, of which only 4 books, out of 12 which Cowley 
designed to write, are completed in English and Latin. The 
history is carried down only to i Sam. xv. 3. Dr Sprat says 

^ ' Pindarique Odes,' p. 22. 



xvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

that Cowley had finished the greatest part of this poem while 
he was yet a young student at Cambridge. 

Besides the Essays and other Prose pieces here printed, 
Cowley published (i) a Collection of Verses written on 
several occasions, which are interesting as throwing light 
upon his life, and which will be alluded to hereafter, and (2) 
in Latin, Six Books of Plants. The last-named work was the 
result of his application to the study of physic, to which he 
turned his attention when he had come back to England, in 
order to dissemble the main intention of his coming, which 
was, as it seems, to be at hand to give notice to the Queen 
mother and Charles II. of the condition of matters in this 
country. Accordingly we find Cowley incorporated in the 
University of Oxford (Dec. 2, 1657) as Doctor of Physic ^ In 
that year he had acted as best man to George Villiers, duke 
of Buckingham, when he was married to the daughter of 
General Fairfax, and the duke proved himself to the end of 
Cowley's life to be a firm friend. 

After the death of Cromwell^ Cowley went over to France 
once more and remained there almost till the Restoration. 
In 1660 he wrote his 'Ode upon His Majesty's Restauration 
and Return,' in which he proceeds to most astounding lengths 
in his flattery of the Royal family. This is the fashion of 
his strain : 

' He who had seen how by the power divine 
All the young branches of this royal line 
Did in their fire without consuming shine: 
How through a rough Red sea they had been led, 
By wonders guarded and by wonders fed ; 
How many years of trouble and distress 
They'd wander'd in their fatal wilderness, 
And yet did never murmur or repine, 

* See Wood, Fasti Oxonienses. It is said that this degree was 
granted him because he complied with some of the men in power, 
and that this submission was much taken notice of by the royal 
party. 

2 He is said by Wood to have made a copy of verses on Oliver's 
death, but these are not among his published works. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, xvii 

Might (methinks) plainly understand, 
That after all these conquered trials past 
The almighty Mercy would at last 
Conduct them with a strong unerring hand 

To their own promised land.' 

Charles and his brothers he compares to the three youths 
in the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, and their two sisters to 
angels who bear them company, and adds, with what sounds 
to modern ears like gross profanity : 

' Less favour to those three of old was shewn, 

To solace with their company 
The fiery trials of adversity, 
Two angels join with these, the others had but one.' 

And in like manner addressing the restored king, he says 
'Come mighty Charles, desire of nations, come.' 

And of the Oueen mother : 

' Where's now the royal mother, where, 

To take her mighty share 

In this so ravishing sight 
And with the part she takes to add to the delight? 

Ah! why art thou not here. 
Thou always best and now the happiest queen, 
To see our joy and with new joy be seen?' 

In this same year, steps had been taken for restoring 
Cowley to his fellowship at Trinity.^ In the Admission 
Book under the date of Febr. ii, 1660, it is entered: 
"Whereas we received a Letter from his Ma'^ dated the last 
of January in the behalfe of M"" Abraham Cowley Fellow of 
Trinity Colledge, for the continuance of his seven years 
before taking holy Orders, in regard of his being eiected 
immediately after his taking degree of Master of Ars, in 
those troublesome Times, we have thought it good to record 
this in our conclusion book, that it may be considered as a 
special case, and so his Ma*y makes it expressly in his 
Lettres, and not to be drawn hereafter into example. 

H. Ferne." 



xviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

And so Cowley was restored as Dr Cowley, and not required 
to take orders, though for 1660 he received no dividend. 
His payments commence in 1661, and for that year and the 
next he is described as Mr Cowley, afterwards from 1663 to 
the third quarter of 1667 he is entered as Dr Cowley. Thus 
he held his fellowship up to the time of his death. 

After his long services to the Royal family Cowley was 
not unlikely to expect some recognition of a larger kind than 
the royal letters that he should be restored to his fellowship. 
The Mastership of the Savoy was said to have been promised 
to him both by Charles I. and Charles II., but the promise, 
like so many others from the same lips, was never fulfilled. 
Cowley felt this neglect, and gave utterance to it in 'The 
Complaint,' where he pictures himself *the melancholy 
Cowley^ lying in the shade 'where reverend Cam cuts out 
his famous way.' Here the muse appears to him and 
rebukes him for deserting her^: 

'Thou changeling, thou, bewitched with noise and show, 
Would'st into courts and cities from me go.' 

And after further reproaches she taunts him with the foolish 
gains which are all he has come to for quitting her : 
' The sovereign is tost at sea no more 
And thou with all the noble company 

Art got at last to shore. 
But whilst thy fellow-voyagers I see 
All march'd up to possess the promised land, 
Thou still alone (alas) dost gaping stand 
Upon the naked beach, upon the barren sand.' 

And she compares his case to one of Gideon's miracles, 
where all around 'with pearly dew was crowned, and nothing 
but the Muses' fleece was dry.' His expectations are Hkened 
to Rachel, served for with faith and labour for twice seven 
years and more, but at last given to another. And the 
Muse concludes her speech with, 

* Thou, to whose share so litde bread did fall, 
In the miraculous year when manna rained on all.' 

^ See 'Verses written on several occasions,' p. 28. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xix 

Cowley in his reply confesses that he has been wrong in 
acting only as a demi-votary, and not giving himself wholly 
to poetry. And then with his usual fondness for Biblical 
language and similes he adds, 

'Thus with Sapphira and her husband's fate, 
{A fault which I like them am taught too late,) 
For all that I gave up I nothing gain, 
And perish for the part that I retain.' 

But clearly at this time he had not lost all hope of recom- 
pense, for he adds that he ought to be accurst if he were not 
content to wait on the king's will, when Charles had so 
cheerfully depended on that of his great Sovereign. And he 
closes, 

'Kings have long hands (they say), and though I be 
So distant, they may reach at length to me.' 

A hope doomed to disappointment. For Charles was 
content to discharge his debt by saying after the poet's 
death, ' Mr Cowley has not left behind him a better man in 
England.' 

It is said that the royal displeasure had been incurred by 
Cowley's poem on ' Brutus^.' An attempt had also been made, 
as will be seen from the preface to Cutter' of Coletmui Street^ 
to turn that comedy into a ground of disfavour, though as 
the author well observes it would have been the height of 
folly in one who had clung to the Royal house in adversity 
to write anything to their offence after the Restoration. 

Through the friendship of Lord Jermyn (created by 
Chas. II. in 1660 Earl of St Alban's) and of the Duke of 
Buckingham Cowley obtained a favourable lease of some 
of the queen's lands, and thus was raised above want, and 
left at liberty to follow his poetic and scientific tastes. To 
science he gave up much of his time and thought, as will 
be seen from his Proposal for a College of Natural Philo- 

^ See ' Pindarique Odes,' p. 33. The poem begins : * Excellent 
Brutus, of all humane race the best,' and such praise of such a cha- 
racter was said to be distasteful to Royalty. 



XX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

sophy. In 1663, when the Royal Society, founded a few 
years before, was by charter constituted a body political 
and corporate under the title of the 'President, Council 
and Fellows of the Royal Society of London for improving 
Natural Knowledge,' Dr Cowley appears among its first 
list of members. At the close of the fifth year of the 
Society's existence he sings its praises in verse, and 
compares its early progress to that of the infant Hercules : 

'None e'er but Hercules and you would be 
At five years age worthy a historic^.' 

In these years of expectation and disappointment Cowley 
wrote his Essays, in which he displays a naturalness and 
purity of style far beyond what is found in his poetry. Had 
his life been spared it is said that he intended to have 
added to their number, and to have dedicated his work 
to the Earl of St Alban's. He died, however, in his forty- 
ninth year, July 28, 1667. After his retirement from public life 
he had made his home on the banks of the Thames, first at 
Barn-Elms and afterwards at Chertsey, where the Porch- 
house, though enlarged and changed in character, is marked 
with an inscription as Cowley's former home. 

He was buried 3rd Aug. 1667 in Westminster Abbey, 
near Chaucer and Spenser, to whom he attributes his first 
inspiration. His body had been brought to Wallingford 
House, near Whitehall, the London residence of the Duke of 
Buckingham, who in 1675 at his own charges erected the 
monument to Cowley in Westminster Abbey. An entry in 
the books of Trinity College, two years after his death, 
among the 'Extraordinaries,' shews that the poet had re- 
tained to the last his affection for his college, though it is 
not easy to understand why the payment recorded had to 
be made : 

'To Mr Alestry for books given by Dr Cowley to the 
Library, ^51.' 

^ ' Verses written on several occasions,' p. 43. 



A PROPOSITION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 




The Preface. 

LL knowledge must either be of God, or of 
his Creatures, that is, of nature; the first 
is called from the object, Divinity ; the latter, 
Natural philosophy, and is divided into the 
contemplation of the immediate or mediate creatures 5 
of God, that is, the Creatures of his Creature man. 
Of this latter kind are all arts for the use of humane 
life, which are thus again divided : Some are purely 
humane, or made by man alone, and as it were intirely 
spun out of himself, without relation to other creatures, 10 
such are Grammar and Logick to improve his natural 
qualities of internal and external speech; as likewise 
Rhetorick and Politicks (or Law) to fulfill and exalt 
his natural inclination to society. Other are mixt, 
and are man's creatures no otherwise then by the result 15 
which he eftects by conjunction and application of 
the creatures of God. Of these parts of philosophy 
that which treats of God Almighty (properly called 

L. c. I 



2 THE PREFACE. 

Divinity) which is ahiiost only to be sought out of his 
revealed will, and therefore requires only the diligent 
and pious study of that, and of the best interpreters 
upon it; and that part which I call purely humane, 

5 depending solely upon memory and wit, that is, reading 
and invention, are both excellently well provided for by 
the constitution of our Universities. But the two other 
parts, the inquisition into the nature of God's creatures, 
and the application of them to humane uses (especially 

lo the latter) seem to be very slenderly provided for, or 
rather almost totally neglected, except onely some small 
assistances to Physick, and the Mathematicks. And 
therefore the founders of our Colledges have taken 
ample care to supply the students with multitude of books, 

15 and to appoint tutors and frequent exercises, the one to 
interpret, and the other to confirm their reading, as also 
to afford them sufficient plenty and leisure for the 
opportunities of their private study, that the beams which 
they receive by lecture, may be doubled by reflections of 

20 their own wit. But towards the observation and applica- 
tion, as I said, of the creatures themselves, they have 
allowed no instruments, materials or conveniences. 
Partly, because the necessary expence thereof is much 
greater then of the other ; and partly from that idle and 

25 pernicious opinion which had long possest the world, 
that all things to be searcht in nature had been already 
found and discovered by the ancients, and that it were a 
folly to travel about for that which others had before 
brought home. And the great importer of all truths they 

30 took to be Aristotle, as if (as Macrobius speaks foolishly 
of Hippocrates) he could neither deceive nor be deceived, 
or as if there had been not only no lies in him, but all 
verities. O true philosophers in one sence! and con- 
tented with a very little ! Not that I would disparage the 



THE PREFACE. 3 

admirable wit and worthy labours of many of the 
ancients, much . less of Aristotle, the most eminent 
among them ; but it were madness to imagine that the 
cisterns of men should afford us as much, and as whole- 
some waters, as the fountains of nature. As we under- 5 
stand the manners of men by conversation among them, 
and not by reading romances, the same is our case in the 
true apprehension and judgement of things. And no 
man can hope to make himself as rich by stealing out of 
others trunks, as he might by opening and digging of 10 
new mines. If he conceive that all are already exhausted, 
let him consider that many lazily thought so hundred 
years ago, and yet nevertheless since that time whole 
regions of art have been discovered, which the ancients 
as little dreamt of as they did of America. There is yet 15 
many a terra incognita behind to exercise our diHgence, 
and let us exercise it never so much, we shall leave 
work enough too for our posterity. 

This therefore being laid down as a certain foundation, 
that we must not content ourselves with that inheritance 20 
of knowledge which is left us by the labour and bounty 
of our ancestors, but seek to improve those very grounds 
and adde to them new and greater purchases ; it remains 
to be considered by what means we are most likely to 
attain the ends of this vertuous covetousness. 25 

And certainly the solitary and unactive contemplation 
of nature, by the most ingenious persons living, in their 
own private studies, can never effect it. Our reasoning 
faculty as well as fancy does but dream, when it is not 
guided by sensible objects. We shall compound where 30 
nature has divided, and divide where nature has com- 
pounded, and create nothing but either deformed mon- 
sters, or at best pretty but impossible mermaids. 'Tis 
like painting by memory and imagination which can 

I — 2 



4 THE PREFACE. 

never produce a picture to the life. Many persons of 
admirable abilities (if they had been wisely managed and 
profitably employed) have spent their whole time and 
diligence in commentating upon Aristotle's philosophy, 

5 who could never go beyond him, because their design 
was only to follow, not grasp, or lay hold on, or so much 
as touch nature, because they catcht only at the shadow 
of her in their own brains. And therefore we see that 
for above a thousand years together nothing almost of 

lo ornament or advantage was added to the uses of humane 
society, except only guns and printing, whereas since 
the industry of men has ventured to go abroad, out of 
books and out of themselves, and to work among God's 
creatures, instead of playing among their own, every age 

IS has abounded with excellent inventions, and every year 
perhaps might do so, if a considerable number of select 
persons were set apart, and well directed, and plentifully 
provided for the search of them. But our Universities 
having been founded in those former times that I com- 

20 plain of, it is no wonder if they be defective in their 
constitution as to this way of learning, which was not 
then thought on. 

For the supplying of which defect it is humbly pro- 
posed to his sacred Majesty, his most honourable par- 

25 liament, and Privy Council, and to all such of his subjects 
as are wiUing and able to contribute any thing towards 
the advancement of real and useful learning, that by 
their authority, encouragement, patronage and bounty, a 
philosophical Colledge may be erected, after this ensuing, 

30 or some such like model. 



THE COLLEDGE. 



The Colledge. 



That the philosophical colledge be situated within one, 
two or (at farthest) three miles of London \ and, if it 
be possible to find that convenience, upon the side of 
the river, or very near it. 

That the revenue of this colledge amount to four thou- 5 
sand a year. That the company received into it be as 
follows : 

I. Twenty philosophers or professors. 2. Sixteen 
young scholars, servants to the professors. 3. A chap- 
lain. 4. A baily for the revenue. 5. A manciple or 10 
purveyor for the provisions of the house. 6. Two gar- 
deners. 7. A master- cook. 8. An under-cook. 9. A 
butler. 10. An under-butier. 11. A chirurgeon. 12. Two 
lungs, or chymical servants. 13. A library-keeper, who 
is likewise to be apothecary, druggest, and keeper of 15 
instruments, engines, &c. 14. An officer, to feed and 
take care of all beast, fowl, &c. kept by the colledge. 
15. A groom of the stable. 16. A messenger, to send 
up and down for all uses of the colledge. 17. Four old 
women, to tend the chambers, keep the house clean, and 20 
such like services. 

That the annual allowance for this company be as 
follows : 

I. To every professor, and to the chaplain, one 
hundred and twenty pounds. 2. To the sixteen scholars 25 
twenty pounds apiece, ten pounds for their diet, and ten 
pounds for their entertainment. 3. To the baily, thirty 
pounds, besides allowance for his journeys. 4. To the 
purveyor, or manciple, thirty pounds. 5. To each of the 
gardeners, twenty pounds. 6. To the master-cook, twenty 30 



6 THE COLLEDGE. 

pounds. 7. To the under-cook, four pounds. 8. To the 
butler, ten pounds. 9. To the under-butler, four pounds. 
10. To the chirurgeon, thirty pounds. 11. To the 
library-keeper, thirty pounds. 12. To each of the lungs, 

5 twelve pounds. 13. To the keeper of the beasts, six 
pounds. 14. To the groom, five pounds. 15. To the 
messenger, twelve pounds. 16. To the four necessary 
women, ten pounds. For the manciples table at which 
all the servants of the house are to eat, except the 

10 scholars, one hundred sixty pounds. For three horses 
for the service of the colledge, thirty pounds. 

All which amounts to three thousand two hundred 
eighty-five pounds. So that there remains for keeping 
of the house and gardens, and operatories, and instru- 

15 ments and animals, and experiments of all sorts, and all 
other expences, seven hundred and fifteen pounds. 

Which were a very inconsiderable sum for the great 
uses to which it is designed, but that I conceive the 
industry of the colledge will, in a short time, so enrich 

20 itself, as to get a far better stock for the advance and 
inlargement of the work when it is once begun: neither 
is the continuance of particular men's liberality to be 
despaired of, when it shall be encouraged by the sight of 
that publick benefit which will accrue to all mankind, 

25 and chiefly to our nation, by this foundation. Some- 
thing likewise will arise from leases and other casualties; 
that nothing of which may be diverted to the private 
gain of the professors, or any other use besides that of 
the search of nature, and by it the general good of the 

30 world, and that care may be taken for the certain per- 
formance of all things ordained by the institution, as 
likewise for the protection and encouragement of the 
company, it is proposed : 

That some person of eminent quality, a lover of solid 



THE COLLED GE. 7 

learning, and no stranger in it, be chosen chancellor or 
president of the colledge; and that eight governors more, 
men qualified in the like manner, be joyned with him, 
two of which shall yearly be appointed visitors of the 
colledge, and receive an exact account of all expences 5 
even to the smallest, and of the true estate of their 
publick treasure, under the hands and oaths of the pro- 
fessors resident. 

That the choice of the professors in any vacancy 
belong to the chancellor and the governours; but that the 10 
professors (who are likeUest to know what men of the 
nation are most proper for the duties of their society) 
direct their choice by recommending two or three persons 
to them at every election. And that, if any learned 
person within his majesties dominions discover, or 15 
eminently improve, any useful kind of knowledge, he 
may upon that ground, for his reward and the encourage- 
ment of others, be preferr'd, if he pretend to the place, 
before any body else. 

That the governours have power to turn out any pro- 20 
fessor, who shall be proved to be either scandalous or 
unprofitable to the society. 

That the colledge be built after this, or some such 
manner : That it consist of three fair quadrangular 
courts, and three large grounds, inclosed with good walls 25 
behind them. That the first court be built with a fair 
cloyster: and the professors' lodgings, or rather little 
houses, four on each side, at some distance from one 
another, and with little gardens behind them, just after 
the manner of the Chartreux beyond sea. That the in- 30 
side of the cloyster be Hned with a gravel-walk, and that 
walk with a row of trees; and that in the middle there 
be a parterre of flowers, and a fountain. 

That the second quadrangle, just behind the first, be 



8 THE COLLEDGE. 

so contrived, as to contain these parts, i. A chappel. 2. 
A hall with two long tables on each side for the scholars 
and officers of the house to eat at, and with a pulpit and 
forms at the end for the publick lectures. 3. A large 
5 and pleasant dining-room within the hall, for the pro- 
fessors to eat in, and to hold their assemblies and con- 
ferences. 4. A publick school-house. 5. A Hbrary. 6. 
A gallery to walk in, adorned with the pictures or statues 
of all the inventors of any thing useful to human life; 

10 as, printing, guns, America, &c. and of late in anatomy, 
the circulation of the blood, the milky veins, and such 
like discoveries in any art, with short elogies under the 
portraictures ; as likewise the figures of all sorts of crea- 
tures, and the stuft skins of as many strange animals as 

15 can be gotten. 7. An anatomy-chamber, adorned with 
skeletons and anatomical pictures, and prepared with 
all conveniences for dissection. 8. A chamber for all 
manner of druggs, and apothecaries' materials. 9. A 
mathematical chamber, furnisht with all sorts of mathe- 

20 matical instruments, being an appendix to the library. 
10. Lodgings for the chaplain, chirurgeon, library-keeper, 
and purveyor, near the chappel, anatomy-chamber, 
library, and hall. 

That the third court be on one side of these, very 

25 large, but meanly built, being designed only for use 
and not for beauty too, as the others. That it contain 
the kitchin, butteries, brew-house, bake-house, dairy, 
lardry, stables, &c. and especially great laboratories 
for chymical operations, and lodgings for the under- 

30 servants. 

That behind the second court be placed the garden, 
containing all sorts of plants that our soil will bear; and 
at the end a httle house of pleasure, a lodge for the 
gardiner, and a grove of trees cut into walks. 



THE COLLEDGE. 9 

That the second enclosed ground be a garden, des- 
tined only to the trial of all manner of experiments 
concerning plants, as their melioration, acceleration, 
retardation, conservation, composition, transmutation, 
coloration, or whatsoever else can be produced by art 5 
either for use or curiosity, with a lodge in it for the 
gardiner. 

That the third ground be employed in convenient re- 
ceptacles for all sorts of creatures which the professors 
shall judge necessary, for their more exact search into 10 
the nature of animals, and the improvement of their 
uses to us. 

That there be likewise built, in some place of 
the colledge where it may serve most for ornament 
of the whole, a very high tower for observation of 15 
celestial bodies, adorned with all sorts of dyals and 
such like curiosities ; and that there be very deep 
vaults made under ground, for experiments most 
proper to such places, which will be undoubtedly very 
many, 20 

Much might be added ; but truly I am afraid this is 
too much already for the charity or generosity of this 
age to extend to ; and we do not design this after the 
model of Solomon's house in my Lord Bacon (which is 
a project for experiments that can never be experi- 25 
mented), but propose it within such bounds of expence 
as have often been exceeded by the buildings of private 
citizens. 

Of the Professors, Scholars, Chaplain, and 
OTHER Officers. 

That of the twenty professors, four be always travelling 
beyond the seas, and sixteen always resident, unless by 30 



lo OF THE PROFESSORS, 6-r. 

permission upon extraordinary occasions; and every one 
so absent, leaving a deputy behind him to supply his 
duties. 

That the four professors itinerate be assigned to the 
5 four parts of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
America, there to reside three years at least; and to 
give a constant account of all things that belong to the 
learning, and especially natural experimental philosophy, 
of those parts 

lo That the expense of all dispatches, and all books, 
simples, animals, stones, metals, minerals, &c. and all 
curiosities whatsoever, natural or artificial, sent by 
them to the colledge, shall be defrayed out of the 
treasury, and an additional allowance (above the ;£i2o.) 

15 made to them as soon as the colledges revenue shall be 
improved. 

That, at their going abroad, they shall take a solemn 
oath, never to write any thing to the colledge, but what, 
after very diligent examination, they shall fully believe 

20 to be true, and to confess and recant it as soon as they 
find themselves in an errour. 

That the sixteen professors resident shall be bound 
to study and teach all sorts of natural experimental 
philosophy, to consist of the mathematicks, mechanicks, 

25 medicine, anatomy, chymistry, the history of animals, 
plants, minerals, elements, &c. ; agriculture, architecture, 
art military, navigation, gardening; the mysteries of all 
trades, and improvement of them ; the facture of all 
merchandises, all natural magick or divination ; and 

30 briefly all things contained in the catalogue of natural 
histories annexed to my Lord Bacon's Organon. 

That once a day from Easter till Michaelmas, and 
twice a week from Michaelmas to Easter, in the hours 
in the afternoon most convenient for auditors from 



OF THE PROFESSORS, 6-r. " 

London, according to the time of the year, there shall be 
a lecture read in the hall, upon, such parts of natural 
experimental philosophy, as the professors shall agree on 
among themselves, and as each of them shall be able to 
perform usefully and honourably. 5 

That two of the professors, by daily, weekly, or 
monthly turns, shall teach the publick schools according 
to the rules hereafter prescribed. 

That all the professors shall be equal in all respects 
(except precedency, choice of lodging, and such like lo 
priviledges, which shall belong to seniority in the col- 
ledge); and that all shall be masters and treasurers by 
annual turns, which two officers for the time being shall 
take place of all the rest, and shall be arbitri duai'uni 
I7iensa7'iim . 15 

That the master shall command all the officers of the 
colledge, appoint assemblies or conferences upon oc- 
casion, and preside in them with a double voice ; and in 
his absence, the treasurer, whose business is to receive 
and disburss all moneys by the master's order in writing 20 
(if it be an extraordinary), after consent of the other 
professors. 

That all the professors shall sup together in the 
parlour within the hall every night, and shall dine there 
twice a week (to wit, Sundays and Thursdays) at two 25 
round tables, for the convenience of discourse, which 
shall be, for the most part, of such matters as may im- 
prove their studies and professions ; and to keep them 
from falling into loose or unprofitable talk, shall be the 
duty of the two arbitri mensarum, who may likewise 30 
command any of the servant-scholars to read to them 
what they shall think fit, whilst they are at table : that it 
shall belong likewise to the said a7-bitri 7tiensarum only to 
invite strangers ; which they shall rarely do, unless they 



12 OF THE PROFESSORS, &^c. 

be men of learning or great parts, and shall not invite 
above two at a time to one table, nothing being more 
vain and unfruitful than numerous meetings of acquaint- 
ance. 

5 That the professors resident shall allow the coUedge 
twenty pounds a year for their diet, whether they con- 
tinue there all the time or not. 

That they shall have once a week an assembly, or 
conference, concerning the affairs of the coUedge and 

lo the progress of their experimental philosophy. 

That if any one find out any thing which he conceives 
to be of consequence, he shall communicate it to the 
assembly to be examined, experimented, approved, or 
rejected. 

15 That, if any one be author of an invention that may 
bring in profit, the third part of it shall belong to the 
inventor, and the two other to the society; and besides, 
if the thing be very considerable, his statue or picture, 
with an elogy under it, shall be placed in the gallery, 

20 and made a denison of that corporation of famous 
men. 

That all the professors shall be always assigned to 
some particular inquisition (besides the ordinary course 
of their studies), of which they shall give an account to 

25 the assembly ; so that by this means there may be every 
day some operation or other made in all the arts, 
as chymistry, anatomy, mechanicks, and the like; and 
that the coUedge shall furnish for the charge of the 
operation. 

30 That there shall be kept a register under lock and 
key, and not to be seen but by the professors, of all the 
experiments that succeed, signed by the persons who 
made the tryal. 

That the popular and received errors in experimental 



OF THE PROFESSORS, 6-^. 13 

philosophy (with which, hke weeds in a neglected garden, 
it is now almost all over-grown) shall be evinced by tryal, 
and taken notice of in the publick lectures, that they 
may no longer abuse the credulous, and beget new ones 
by consequence or similitude. 5 

That every third year (after the full settlement of the 
foundation) the colledge shall give an account in print, in 
proper and ancient Latine, of the fruits of their triennial 
industry. 

That every professor resident shall have his scholar 10 
to wait upon him in his chamber and at table ; whom he 
shall be obliged to breed up in natural philosophy, and 
render an account of his progress to the assembly, from 
whose election he received him, and therefore is re- 
sponsible to it, both for the care of his education and 15 
the just and civil usage of him. 

That the scholar shall understand Latine very well, 
and be moderately initiated in the Greek, before he be 
capable of being chosen into the service ; and that he 
shall not remain in it above seven years. 20 

That his lodging shall be with the professor whom he 
serves. 

That no professor shall be a married man, or a divine, 
or lawyer in practice; only physick he may be allowed to 
;orescribe, because the study of that art is a great part of 25 
^■he duty of his place, and the duty of that is so great that 
it will not suffer him to lose much time in mercenary 
practice. 

That the professors shall, in the colledge, wear the 
habit of ordinary masters of art in the universities, or of 30 
doctors, if any of them be so. 

That they shall all keep an inviolable and exemplary 
friendship with one another ; and that the assembly shall 
lay a considerable pecuniary mulct upon any one who 



14 OF THE PROFESSORS, &^c 

shall be proved to have entered so far into a quarrel as 
to give uncivil language to his brother-professor; and 
that the perseverance in any enmity shall be punish'd by 
the governors with expulsion. 

5 That the chaplain shall eat at the master's table (pay- 
ing his twenty pounds a year as the others do); and that 
he shall read prayers once a day at least, a little before 
supper-time ; that he shall preach in the chappel every 
Sunday morning, and catechize in the afternoon the 

lo scholars and the school-boys ; that he shall every month 
administer the holy sacrament ; that he shall not trouble 
himself and his auditors with the controversies of divinity, 
but only teach God in his just commandments, and in 
his wonderful works. 



The School. 

15 That the school may be built so as to contain about an 
hundred boys. 

That it be divided into four classes, not as others are 
ordinarily into six or seven ; because we suppose that 
the children sent hither, to be initiated in things as well 

20 as words, ought to have past the two or three first, and 
to have attained the age of about thirteen years, being 
already well advanced in the Latine grammar, and some 
authors. 

That none, though never so rich, shall pay any thing 

25 for their teaching; and that, if any professor shall be 
convicted to have taken any money in consideration of 
his pains in the school, he shall be expelled with igno- 
miny by the governours; but if any persons of great 
estate and quality, finding their sons much better pro- 

30 ficients in learning here, than boys of the same age 



THE SCHOOL. 15 

commonly are at other schools, shall not think fit to 
receive an obligation of so near concernment without 
returning some marks of acknowledgment, they may, if 
they please, (for nothing is to be demanded) bestow 
some little rarity or curiosity upon the society, in recom- 5 
pense of their trouble. 

And because it is deplorable to consider the loss 
which children make of their time at most schools, em- 
ploying, or rather casting away, six or seven years in 
the learning of words only, and that too very imper- 10 
fectly : 

That a method be here established, for the infusing 
knowledge and language at the same time into them ; 
and that this may be their apprenticeship in natural phi- 
losophy. This, we conceive, may be done, by breeding 15 
them in authors, or pieces of authors, who treat of some 
parts of nature, and who may be understood with as 
much ease and pleasure, as those which are commonly 
taught ; such are, in Latine, Varro, Cato, Columella, 
Pliny, part of Celsus and of Seneca, Cicero de Divina- 20 
tione, de Natura Deorum, and several scattered pieces, 
Virgil's Georgicks, Grotius, Nemetianus, Manilius : And 
because the truth is, we want good poets (I mean we 
have but few), v/ho have purposely treated of solid and 
learned, that is, natural matters (the most part indulg- 25 
ing to the weakness of the world, and feeding it either 
with the follies of love, or with the fables of gods and 
heroes), we conceive that one book ought to be compiled 
of all the scattered little parcels among the antient poets 
that might serve for the advancement of natural sciences 30 
and which would make no small and unuseful or un- 
pleasant volume. To this we would have added the 
morals and rhetoricks of Cicero, and the institutions of 
Quintilian ; and for the comedians, from whom almost 



i6 THE SCHOOL. 

all that necessary part of common discourse, and all the 
most intimate proprieties of the language, are drawn, 
we conceive the boys may be made masters of them, as 
a part of their recreation, and not of their task, if once a 
5 month, or at least once in two, they act one of Terence's 
Comedies, and afterwards (the most advanced) some of 
Plautus his ; and this is for many reasons one of the best 
exercises they can be enjoyned, and most innocent plea- 
sures they can be allowed. As for the Greek authors, 

lo they may study Nicander, Oppianus (whom Scaliger 
does not doubt to prefer above Homer himself, and 
place next to his adored Virgil), Aristotle's history of 
animals and other parts, Theophrastus and Dioscorides 
of plants, and a collection made out of several both poets 

15 and other Grecian writers. For the morals and rhetorick, 
Aristotle may suffice, or Hermogenes and Longinus be 
added for the latter. With the history of animals they 
should be shewed anatomy as a divertisement, and made 
to know the figures and natures of those creatures 

20 which are not common among us, disabusing them at 
the same time of those errors which are universally ad- 
mitted concerning many. The same method should be 
used to make them acquainted with all plants ; and to 
this must be added a little of the antient and modern 

25 geography, the understanding of the globes, and the 
principles of geometry and astronomy. They should 
likewise use to declaim in Latine and English, as the 
Romans did in Greek and Latine ; and in all this travel 
be rather led on by familiarity, encouragement, and 

30 emulation, than driven by severity, punishment, and 
terror. Upon festivals and play-times, they should ex- 
ercise themselves in the fields, by riding, leaping, fencing, 
mustering and training after the manner of soldiers, &c. 
And, to prevent all dangers and all disorder, there should 



THE SCHOOL. 17 

always be two of the scholars with them, to be as wit- 
nesses and directors of their actions ; in foul weather, it 
would not be amiss for them to learn to dance, that is, 
to learn just so much (for all beyond is superfluous, if 
not worse) as may give them a graceful comportment of 5 
their bodies. 

Upon Sundays, and all days of devotion, they are to 
be a part of the chaplain's province. 

That, for all these ends, the colledge so order it, as 
that there may be some convenient and pleasant houses 10 
thereabouts, kept by religious, discreet, and careful per- 
sons, for the lodging and boarding of young scholars ; 
that they have a constant eye over them, to see 
that they be bred up there piously, cleanly, and plen- 
tifully, according to the proportion of the parents' 15 
expences. 

And that the colledge, when it shall please God, either 
by their own industry and success, or by the benevo- 
lence of patrons, to enrich them so far, as that it may 
come to their turn and duty to be charitable to others, 20 
shall, at their own charges, erect and maintain some 
house or houses for the entertainment of such poor men's 
sons, whose good natural parts may promise either use 
or ornament to the commonwealth, during the time of 
t leir abode at school ; and shall take care that it shall 25 
be done with the same conveniences as are enjoyed even 
by rich men's children (though they maintain the fewer 
for that cause), there being nothing of eminent and 
illustrious to be expected from a low, sordid, and hos- 
pital-like education. 30 



L. c. 



i8 CONCLUSION. 



Conclusion. 



If I be not much abused by a natural fondness to my 
own conceptions (that a-Topyrj of the Greeks, which no 
other language has a proper word for), there was never 
any project thought upon, which deserves to meet with 
5 so few adversaries as this ; for who can without impu- 
dent folly oppose the establishment of twenty well- 
selected persons in such a condition of life, that their 
whole business and sole profession may be to study the 
improvement and advantage of all other professions, 

lo from that of the highest general even to the lowest 
artisan? Who shall be obhged to employ their whole 
time, wit, learning, and industry, to these four, the most 
useful that can be imagined, and to no other ends ; first, 
to weigh, examine, and prove all things of nature deli- 

15 vered to us by former ages; to detect, explode, and 
strike a censure through all false moneys with which the 
world has been paid and cheated so long; and (as I may 
say) to set the mark of the colledge upon all true coins, 
that they may pass hereafter without any farther tryal : 

20 secondly, to recover the lost inventions, and, as it were, 
drown'd lands of the antients : thirdly, to improve all 
arts which we now have ; and lastly, to discover others 
which we yet have not. And who shall besides all this 
(as a benefit by the by), give the best education in the 

25 world (purely gratis) to as many men's children as shall 
think fit to make use of the obligation ? Neither does 
it at all check or interfere with any parties in state or 
religion, but is indifferently to be embraced by all 
differences in opinion, and can hardly be conceived 

30 capable (as many good institutions have done) even of 
degeneration into any thing harmful. So that, all things 



CONCLUSION. 19 

considered, I will suppose this proposition will encounter 
with no enemies : the only question is, whether it will 
find friends enough to carry it on from discourse and 
design to reality and effect ; the necessary expences of 
the beginning (for it will maintain itself well enough 5 
afterwards) being so great (though I have set them as 
low as is possible in order to so vast a work), that it 
may seem hopeless to raise such a sum out of those few 
dead reliques of human charity and publick generosity 
which are yet remaining in the world. 10 




A DISCOURSE BY WAY OF VISION CON- 
CERNING THE GOVERNMENT 
OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 

iT was the funeral day of the late man wlio 

made himself to be called protector. And 

though I bore but little affection, either to 

the memory of him, or to the trouble and 

5 folly of all publick pageantry, yet I was forced by the 

importunity of my company, to go along with them, and 

be a spectator of that solemnity, the expectation of 

which had been so great, that it was said to have 

brought some very curious persons (and no doubt singular 

lo virtuosos) as far as from the Mount in Cornwal, and from 

the Orcades. I found there had been much more cost 

bestowed than either the dead man or indeed death 

itself could deserve. There was a mighty train of black 

assistants, among which, too, divers princes in the 

15 persons of their ambassadors (being infinitely afflicted for 

the loss of their brother) were pleased to attend ; the 

herse was magnificent, the idol crowned, and (not to 

mention all other ceremonies which are practised at royal 

interments, and therefore by no means could be omitted 

20 here) the vast multitude of spectators made up, as it uses 



A DISCOURSE, &>&. 21 

to do, no small part of the spectacle itself. But yet, I 
know not how, the whole was so managed, that, me- 
thoughts, it somewhat represented the life of him for 
whom it was made ; much noise, much tumult, much 
expence, much magnificence, much vain-glory; briefly 5 
a great show; and yet, after all this, but an ill sight. 
At last (for it seemed long to me, and, like his short 
reign too, very tedious) the whole scene past by; and 
I retired back to my chamber, weary, and I think more 
melancholy than any of the mourners. Where I began 10 
to reflect on the whole life of this prodigious man : and 
sometimes I was filled with horrour and detestation of 
his actions, and sometimes I inclined a little to reverence 
and admiration of his courage, conduct, and success; till, 
by these different motions and agitations of mind, rocked, 15 
as it were, asleep, I fell at last into this vision ; or if you 
please to call it but a dream, I shall not take it ill, 
because the father of j^oets tells us, even dreams, too, 
are from God. 

But sure it was no dream; for I was suddainly trans- 20 
ported afar off (whether in the body, or out of the body, 
like St Paul, I know not) and found myself on the top of 
that famous hill in the island Mona, which has the 
prospect of three great, and not long since most happy, 
kingdoms. As soon as ever I look'd on them, the not- 25 
long-since struck upon my memory, and called forth the 
sad representation of all the sins, and all the miseries, 
that had overwhelmed them these twenty years. And I 
wept bitterly for two or three hours ; and, when my 
present stock of moisture was all wasted, I fell a sigliing 30 
for an hour more; and, as soon as I recovered from my 
passion the use of speech and reason, I broke forth, 
as I remember (looking upon England), into this com- 
plaint : 



2 2 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 



Ah, happy isle, how art thou chang'd and curst, 
Since I was born, and knew thee first! 

When peace, which had forsook the world around, 

(Frighted with noise, and the shrill trumpet's sound) 
5 Thee, for a private place of rest. 

And a secure retirement, chose 
Wherein to build her halcyon nest; 

No wind durst stir abroad the air to discompose. 



2. 

When all the riches of the globe beside 
lo Flow'd in to thee with every tide : 

When all, that nature did thy soil deny, 
The growth was of thy fruitful industry; 
When all the proud and dreadful sea 
And all his tributary streams, 
15 A constant tribute paid to thee, 

When all the liquid world was one extended Thames ; 



When plenty in each village did appear, 
And bounty was it's steward there ; 

When gold walk'd free about in open view, 
20 E'er it one conquering party's prisoner grew; 
When the religion of our state 
Had face and substance with her voice, 
E'er she, by her foolish loves of late. 

Like echo (once a nymph) turn'd only into noise. 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 23 



4. 

When men to men respect and friendship bore, 

And God with reverence did adore ; 
When upon earth no kingdom could have shown 
A happier monarch to us than our own; 

And yet his subjects by him were 

(Which is a truth will hardly be 

Receiv'd by any vulgar ear, 
A secret known to few) made happier ev'n than he. 



Thou dost a chaos, and confusion now, 

A Babel, and a Bedlam, grow, 10 

And, like a frantick person, thou dost tear 
The ornaments and cloaths, which thou should'st wear, 

And cut thy limbs ; and, if we see 

(Just as thy barbarous Britons did) 

Thy body with hypocrisie 15 

Painted all o'er, thou think'st thy naked shame is hid. 



6. 

The nations, which envied thee ere while, 

Now laugh (too little 'tis to smile) : 
They laugh, and would have pitied thee (alas !) 
But that thy faults all pity do surpass. 20 

Art thou the countrey, which didst hate 

And mock the French inconstancie ? 

And have we, have we seen of late 
Less change of habits there, than governments in thee? 



24 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

7. 
Unhappy Isle ! no ship of thine at sea, 

Was ever tost and torn like thee. 
Thy naked hulk loose on the waves does beat, 
The rocks and banks around her mine threat; 
5 What did thy foolish pilots ail, 

To lay the compass quite aside? 
Without a law or rule to sail, 
And rather take the winds, than heavens, to be their guide? 



Yet, mighty God, yet, yet, we humbly crave, 
10 This floating isle from shipwrack save ; 

And though, to wash that bloud which does it stain, 
It well deserve to sink into the main ; 
Yet, for the royal martyr's prayer, 
(The royal martyr prays, we know) 
15 This guilty, perishing vessel spare; 

Hear but his soul above, and not his bloud below. 

I think, I should have gone [on,] but that I was 
interrupted by a strange and terrible apparition; for 
there appeared to me (arising out of the earth, as I 

20 conceived) the figure of a man, taller than a gyant, or 
indeed the shadow of any gyant in the evening. His 
body was naked; but that nakedness adorn'd, or rather 
deform'd all over, with several figures, after the manner 
of the antient Britons, painted upon it : and I perceived 

25 that most of them were the representation of the battels 
in our civil wars, and (if I be not much mistaken) it was 
the battel of Naseby that was drawn upon his breast. 
His eyes were like burning brass; and there were three 
crowns of the same metal (as I guest), and that look'd as 

30 red-hot too, upon his head. He held in his right hand 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 25 

a sword, that was yet bloody, and nevertheless the motto 
of it was, Pax quceritiir bello ; and in his left hand a 
thick book, upon the back of which was written in letters 
of gold, Acts, Ordinances, Protestations, Covenants, 
Engagements, Declarations, Remonstrances, &c. 5 

Though this sudden, unusual, and dreadful object 
might have quelled a greater courage than mine, yet so 
it pleased God (for there is nothing bolder than a man 
in a vision) that I was not at all daunted, but ask'd 
him resolutely and briefly, "What art thou?" And he 10 
said, "I am called the north-west principality, his highness 
the protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, and the dominions belonging thereunto; for 
I am that angel, to whom the Almighty has committed 
the government of those three kingdoms, which thou 15 
seest from this place." And I answered and said, "If it 
be so, Sir, it seems to me that for almost these twenty 
years past, your highness has been absent from your 
charge: for not only if any angel, but if any wise and 
honest man had since that time been our governor, we 20 
should not have v/andred thus long in these laborious 
and endless labyrinths of confusion, but either not have 
entred at all into them, or at least have returned back 
e'r we had absolutely lost our way ; but, instead of your 
highness, we have had since such a protector as was his 25 
predecessor Richard the Third to the king his nephew ; 
for he presently slew the commonwealth, which he pre- 
tended to protect, and set up himself in the place of it : 
a little less guilty, indeed, in one respect, because the 
other slew an innocent, and this man did but murder a 30 
murderer. Such a protector we have had, as we would 
have been glad to have changed for an enemy, and 
rather receive a constant Turk, than this every month's 
apostate ; such a protector, as man is to his flocks, which 



26 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

he shears, and sells, or devours himself; and I would 
fain know, what the wolf, which he protects them from, 
could do more? Such a protector — " and as I was 
proceeding, methought his highness began to put on a 

5 displeased and threatning countenance, as men use to do 
when their dearest friends happen to be traduced in their 
company; which gave me the first rise of jealousie 
against him, for I did not believe that Cromwel, among 
all his forreign correspondences, had ever held any with 

lo angels. However, I was not hardn'd enough to venture 
a quarrel with him then ; and therefore (as if I had 
spoken to the protector himself in Whitehal) I desired 
him *' that his highness would please to pardon me, if I 
had unwittingly spoken any thing to the disparagement of 

15 a person, whose relations to his highness I had not the 
honour to know." 

At which he told me, '-'that he had no other con- 
cernment for his late highness, than as he took him to 
be the greatest man that ever was of the English nation, 

20 if not (said he) of the whole world ; which gives me a 
just title to the defence of his reputation, since I now 
account myself, as it were, a naturalized English angel, 
by having had so long the management of the affairs of 
that countrey. And pray, countreyman (said he, very 

25 kindly and very flatteringly) for I would not have you fall 
into the general error of the world, that detests and 
decries so extraordinary a virtue, what can be more ex- 
traordinary, than that a person of mean birth, no fortune, 
no eminent quaUties of body, which have sometimes, or 

30 of mind, which have often, raised men to the highest 
dignities, should have the courage to attempt, and the 
happiness to succeed in, so improbable a design, as the 
destruction of one of the most antient and most solidly 
founded monarchies upon the earth? That he should have 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 27 

the power or boldness to put his prince and master to an 
open and infamous death ; to banish that numerous and 
strongly-aUied family ; to do all this under the name and 
wages of a parliament ; to trample upon them too as he 
pleased, and spurn them out of doors, when he grew 5 
weary of them; to raise up a new and unheard of monster 
out of their ashes ; to stifle that in the very infancy, and 
set up himself above all things that ever were called 
soveraign in England ; to oppress all his enemies by 
arms, and all his friends afterwards by artifice ; to serve 10 
all parties patiently for a while, and to command them 
victoriously at last ; to over-run each corner of the three 
nations, and overcome with equal felicity both the riches 
of the south, and the poverty of the north ; to be feared 
and courted by all forreign princes, and adopted a brother 15 
to the gods of the earth; to call together parliaments 
with a word of his pen, and scatter them again with the 
breath of his mouth ; to be humbly and daily petitioned 
that he would please to be hired, at the rate of two 
millions a year, to be master of those who had hired 20 
him before to be their servant ; to have the estates and 
lives of three kingdoms as much at his disposal, as was 
the little inheritance of his father, and to be as noble and 
liberal in the spending of them ; and lastly (for there is 
no end of all the particulars of his glory) to bequeath all 25 
this with one word to his posterity ; to dye with peace at 
home, and triumph abroad ; to be buried among kings, 
and with more than regal solemnity; and to leave a 
name behind him, not to be extinguished but with the 
whole world ; which, as it is now too little for his praises, 30 
so might have been too for his conquests, if the short 
line of his humane life could have been stretcht out to 
the extent of his immortal designs ? '' 

By this speech, I began to understand perfectly well 



28 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

what kind of angel his pretended highness was ; and 
having fortified myself privately with a short mental 
prayer, and with the sign of the cross (not out of any 
superstition to the sign, but as a recognition of my 

5 baptism in Christ,) I grew a little bolder, and replyed in 
this manner; " I should not venture to oppose what you 
are pleased to say in commendation of the late great, and 
(I confess) extraordinary person, but that I remember 
Christ forbids us to give assent to any other doctrine 

lo but what himself has taught us, even though it should be 
delivered by an angel ; and if such you be, Sir, it may be 
you have spoken all this rather to try than to tempt my 
frailty, for sure I am, that we must renounce or forget 
all the laws of the New and Old Testament, and those 

15 which are the foundation of both, even the laws of moral 
and natural honesty, if we approve of the actions of that 
man whom I suppose you commend by irony. 

"There would be no end to instance in the par- 
ticulars of all his wickedness : but to sum up a part of it 

20 briefly : What can be more extraordinarily wicked, than 
for a person, such as yourself quahfie him rightly, to 
endeavour not only to exalt himself above, but to trample 
upon, all his equals and betters? To pretend freedom for 
all men, and under the help of that pretence to make all 

25 men his servants ? To take arms against taxes of scarce 
two hundred thousand pounds a year, and to raise them 
himself to above two millions? To quarrel for the loss of 
three or four ears, and strike off three or four hundred 
heads? To fight against an imaginary suspicion of I know 

30 not what two thousand guards to be fetcht for the king, I 
know not from whence, and to keep up for himself no 
less than forty thousand? To pretend the defence of 
parliaments, and violently to dissolve all even of his own 
calling, and almost choosing ? To undertake the reform- 



GOVERNAIENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 29 

ation of religion, to rob it even to the very skin, and then 
to expose it naked to the rage of all sects and heresies ? 
To set up councils of rapine, and courts of murder ? To 
fight against the king under a commission for him ? To 
take him forcibly out of the hands of those for whom 5 
he had conquer'd him ? To draw him into his net, with 
protestations and vows of fidelity, and when he had 
caught him in it, to butcher him, with as little shame as 
conscience or humanity, in the open face of the whole 
world? To receive a commission for king and parhament, 10 
to murder (as I said) the one, and destroy no less im- 
pudently the other ? To fight against monarchy when he 
declared for it, and declare against it when he contrived 
for it in his own person ? To abuse perfidiously and sup- 
plant ingratefully his own general first, and afterwards 15 
most of those officers, who, with the loss of their honour, 
and hazard of their souls, had lifted him up to the top of 
his unreasonable ambitions ? To break his faith with all 
enemies and with all friends equally, and to make no 
less frequent use of the most solemn perjuries, than the 20 
looser sort of people do of customary oaths ? To usurp 
three kingdoms without any shadow of the least pre- 
tensions, and to govern them as unjustly as he got them? 
To set himself up as an idol (which we know, as St Paul 
says, in itself is nothing), and make the very streets of 25 
London like the valley of Hinnom, by burning the 
bowels of men as a sacrifice to his Molochship ? To seek 
to entail this usurpation upon his posterity, and with it 
an endless war upon the nation? And lastly, by the 
severest judgment of Almighty God, to die hardned, and 30 
mad, and unrepentant, with the curses of the present 
age, and the detestation of all to succeed?" 

Though I had much more to say (for the life of man 
is so short, that it allows not time enough to speak 
against a tyrant) yet because I had a mind to hear how 35 



30 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

my strange adversary would behave himself upon this 
subject, and to give even the devil (as they say) his right, 
and fair play in disputation, I stopt here, and expected 
(not without the frailty of a little fear) that he should 

5 have broke into a violent passion in behalf of his 
favourite : but he on the contrary very calmly, and with 
the dove-like innocency of a serpent that was not yet 
warm'd enough to sting, thus reply'd to me : 

"It is not so much out of my affection to that person 

lo whom we discourse of (whose greatness is too solid to 
be shaken by the breath of any oratory), as for your own 
sake (honest countryman,) whom I conceive to err rather 
by mistake than out of malice, that I shall endeavour to 
reform your uncharitable and unjust opinion. And, in 

15 the first place, I must needs put you in mind of a sentence 
of the most antient of the heathen divines, that you men 
are acquainted withal, 

Ov;^ ocTLOv KTaixivoi<JLv €77 avSpdcTLv €VX€Tda(r6ai. 

'Tis wicked with insulting feet to tread 
20 Upon the monuments of the dead. 

And the intention of the reproof there is no less proper 
for this subject ; for it is spoken to a person who was 
proud and insolent against those dead men, to whom he 
had been humble and obedient whilst they lived." 
25 "Your highness may please (said I) to add the verse 
that follows, as no less proper for this subject : 

Whom God's just doom and their own sins have sent 
Already to their punishment. 

"But 1 take this to be the rule in the case, that, when 
30 we fix any infamy upon deceased persons, it should not 
be done out of hatred to the dead, but out of love and 
charity to the living : that the curses, which only remain 
in men's thoughts, and dare not come forth against 
tyrants (because they are tyrants) whilst they are so, may 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 31 

at least be for ever setled and engraven upon their 
memories, to deter all others from the like wickedness ; 
which else, in the time of their foolish prosperity, the 
flattery of their own hearts and of other men's tongues 
would not suffer them to perceive. Ambition is so subtil 5 
a tempter, and the corruption of humane nature so 
susceptible of the temptation, that a man can hardly 
resist it, be he never so much forewarn'd of the evil 
consequences ; much less if he find not only the con- 
currence of the present, but the approbation too of 10 
following ages, which have the liberty to judge more 
freely. The mischief of tyranny is too great, even in 
the shortest time that it can continue ; it is endless and 
insupportable, if the example be to reign too, and if a 
Lambert must be invited to follow the steps of a Cromwel, 15 
as well by the voice of honour, as by the sight of power 
and riches. Though it may seem to some fantastically, 
yet was it wisely done of the Syracusians, to implead 
with the forms of their ordinary justice, to condemn and 
destroy even the statutes of all their tyrants : if it were 20 
possible to cut them out of all history, and to extinguish 
their very names, I am of opinion that it ought to be 
done; but, since they have left behind them too deep 
wounds to be ever closed up without a scar, at least let 
us set such a mark upon their memory, that men of the 25 
same wicked inclinations may be no less affrighted with 
their lasting ignominy, than enticed by their momentany 
glories. And that your highness may perceive, that I 
speak not all this out of any private animosity against 
the person of that late protector, I assure you upon my 30 
faith, that I bear no more hatred to his name, than I do 
to that of Marius or Sylla, who never did me, or any 
friend of mine, the least injury ; and with that, transported 
by a holy fury, I fell into this sudden rapture : 



32 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 



I. 



Curst be the man (what do I wish? as though 

The wretch already were not so ; 
But curst on let him be) who thinks it brave 
And great, his country to enslave, 
5 Who seeks to overpoise alone 

The balance of a nation, 
Against the whole but naked state, 
Who in his own light scale makes up with arms the 
weight. 



2. 

Who of his nation loves to be the first, 
lo Though at the rate of being worst. 

Who would be rather a great monster, than 
A well-proportion'd man. 
The son of earth with hundred hands 
Upon his three-pil'd mountain stands, 
15 Till thunder strikes him from the skie ; 

The son of earth again in his earth's womb does lie. 



What blood, confusion, ruine, to obtain 
A short and miserable reign ! 

In what oblique and humble creeping wise 
20 Does the mischievous serpent rise ! 

But ev'n his forked tongue strikes dead : 
When he's rear'd up his wicked head, 
He murders with his mortal frown ; 

A basilisk he grows, if once he gets a crown. 



GOVERNMENT OE OLIVER CROMWEL, 33 



But no guards can oppose assaulting fears, 

Or undermining tears, 
No more than doors or close-drawn curtains keep 

The swarming dreams out, when we sleep. 

That bloody conscience, too, of his 

(For, oh, a rebel red-coat 'tis) 

Does here his early hell begin, 
He sees his slaves without, his tyrant feels within. 



5- 

Let, gracious God, let never more thine hand 

Lift up this rod against our land. 10 

A tyrant is a rod and serpent too, 

And brings worse plagues than Egypt knew. 

What rivers stain'd with blood have been ! 

What storm and hail-shot have we seen ! 

What sores deform'd the ulcerous state ! 15 

What darkness to be felt has buried us of late! 



How has it snatcht our flocks and herds away ! 
And made ev'n of our sons a prey ! 

What croaking sects and vermin has it sent, 

The restles nation to torment ! 20 

What greedy troops, what armed power 

Of flies and locusts, to devour 

The land, which every where they fill ! 

Nor fly they. Lord, away; no, they devour it still. 

L. c. 3 



34 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

7- 

Come the eleventh plague, rather than this should be; 

Come sink us rather in the sea. 
Come rather pestilence and reap us down ; 

Come God's sword rather than our own, 
5 Let rather Roman come again, 

Or Saxon, Norman, or the Dane : 

In all the bonds we ever bore, 
We griev'd, we sigh'd, we wept ; we never blusht before. 

8. 

If by our sins the divine justice be 
lo Call'd to this last extremitie, 

Let some denouncing Jonas first be sent, 
To try if England can repent. 
Methinks, at least, some prodigy, 
Some dreadful comet from on high, 
15 Should terribly forewarn the earth, 

As of good princes' deaths, so of a tyrant's birth." 

Here, the spirit of verse beginning a little to fail, I 
stopt : and his highness, smiling, said, " I was glad to 
see you engaged in the enclosures of metre ; for, if 

20 you had staid in the open plain of declaiming against 
the word Tyrant, I must have had patience for half a 
dozen hours, till you had tired yourself as well as me. 
But pray, countryman, to avoid this sciomachy, or 
imaginary combat with words, let me know. Sir, what 

25 you mean by the name tyrant, for I remember that, 
among your antient authors, not only all kings, but even 
Jupiter himself (your jiivans pater) is so termed ; and 
perhaps, as it was uced fornierly in a good sense, so we 
shall find it, upon better consideration, to be still a good 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 35 

thing for the benefit and peace of mankind ; at least, it 
will appear whether your interpretation of it may be 
justly applyed to the person who is now the subject of 
our discourse." 

'*I call him (said I) a tyrant, who either intrudes 5 
himself forcibly into the government of his fellow citizens 
without any legal authority over them ; or who, having 
a just title to the government of a people, abuses it to 
the destruction, or tormenting, of them. So that all 
tyrants are at the same time usurpers, either of the whole, 10 
or at least of a part, of that power which they assume 
to themselves : and no less are they to be accounted 
rebels, since no man can usurp authority over others, 
but by rebelling against them who had it before, or at 
least against those laws which were his superiors: and 15 
in all these senses, no history can afford us a more 
evident example of tyranny, or more out of all possi- 
bility of excuse, or palliation, than that of the person 
whom you are pleased to defend; whether we consider 
his reiterated rebellions against all his superiors, or his 20 
usurpation of the supreme power to himself, or his 
tyranny in the exercise of it : and, if lawful princes 
have been esteemed tyrants, by not containing them- 
selves within the bounds of those laws which have been 
left them as the sphere of their authority by their 25 
forefathers, what shall we say of that man, who, having 
by right no power at all in this nation, could not content 
liimself with that which had satisfied the most ambitious 
of our princes? nay, not with those vastly extended 
limits of soveraignty, which he (disdaining all that had 30 
been prescribed and observed before) was pleased (out 
of great modesty) to set to himself ; not abstaining from 
rebellion and usurpation even against his own laws, as 
well as those of the nation ? " 

3-2 



36 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

" Hold, friend, said his highness, pulling me by my 
arm, for I see your zeal is transporting you again ; 
whether the protector were a tyrant in the exorbitant 
exercise of his power, we shall see anon ; it is requisite 

5 to examine, first, whether he were so in the usurpation 
of it. And I say, that not only he, but no man else, 
ever was, or can be so ; and that for these reasons. 
First, because all power belongs only to God, who is 
the source and fountain of it, as kings are of all honours 

lo in their dominions. Princes are but his viceroys in the 
little provinces of this world; and to some he gives 
their places for a few years, to some for their lives, and 
to others (upon ends or deserts best known to himself, or 
meerly for his indisputable good pleasure) he bestows, 

15 as it were, leases upon them and their posterity, for such a 
date of time as is prefixt in that patent of their destiny, 
which is not legible to you men below. Neither is it 
more unlawful for Oliver to succeed Charles in the 
kingdom of England, when God so disposes of it, than 

20 it had been for him to have succeeded the Lord Strafford 
in his lieutenancy of Ireland, if he had been appointed 
to it by the king then reigning. Men are in both the 
cases obliged to obey him, whom they see actually in- 
vested with the authority by that sovereign from whom 

25 he ought to derive it, without disputing or examining 
the causes, either of the removal of the one, or the 
preferment of the other. Secondly, because all power 
is attained, either by the election and consent of the 
people, and that takes away your objection of forcible 

30 intrusion ; or else, by a conquest of them, and that 
gives such a legal authority as you mention to be want- 
ing in the usurpation of a tyrant; so that either this 
title is right, and then there are no usurpers, or else it is 
a wrong one, and then there are none else but usurpers, 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 37 

if you examine the original pretences of the princes of 
the world. Thirdly, (which, quitting the dispute in 
general, is a particular justification of his highness) the 
government of England was totally broken and dis- 
solved, and extinguisht by the confusions of a civil 5 
war; so that his highness could not be accused to have 
possest himself violently of the antient building of the 
commonwealth, but to have prudently and peaceably 
built up a new one out of the mines and ashes of the 
former; and he who^ after a deplorable shipwrack, can 10 
with extraordinary industry gather together the disperst 
and broken planks and pieces of it, and with no less 
wonderful art and felicity so rejoyn them as to make a 
new vessel more tight and beautiful than the old one, 
deserves, no doubt, to have the command of her (even 15 
as his highness had by the desire of the seamen and 
passengers themselves). And do but consider, lastly, (for 
I omit a multitude of weighty things, that might be 
spoken upon this noble argument) do but consider 
seriously and impartially with yourself, what admirable 20 
parts of wit and prudence, what indefatigable diligence 
and invincible courage, must of necessity have con- 
curred in the person of that man, who from so con- 
temptible beginnings (as I observed before) and through 
so many thousand difficulties, was able not only to make 25 
himself the greatest and most absolute monarch of this 
nation ; but to add to it the entire conquest of Ireland 
and Scotland (which the whole force of the world, joyned 
with the Roman virtue, could never attain to), and to 
crown all this with illustrious and heroical undertakings 30 
and success upon all our forreign enemies : do but (I 
say again) consider this, and you will confess, that his 
prodigious merits were a better title to imperial dignity, 
than the blood of an hundred royal progenitors ; and 



38 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

will rather lament that he had lived not to overcome 
more nations, than envy him the conquest and dominion 
of these." 

" Whoever you are (said I, my indignation making 

5 me somewhat bolder), your discourse (methinks) be- 
comes as little the person of a tutelar angel, as Crom- 
wel's actions did that of a protector. It is upon these 
principles, that all the great crimes of the world have 
been committed, and most particularly those which I 

lo have had the misfortune to see in my own time, and in 
my own country. If these be to be allowed, we must 
break up human society, retire into the woods, and 
equally there stand upon our guards against our brethren 
mankind, and our rebels the wild beasts. For if there 

15 can be no usurpation upon the rights of a whole nation, 
there can be none most certainly upon those of a 
private person ; and, if the robbers of countries be 
God's vicegerents, there is no doubt but the thieves and 
banditos, and murderers, are his under officers. It is 

20 true which you say, that God is the source and fountain 
of all power ; and it is no less true, that he is the creator 
of serpents as well as angels ; nor does his goodness 
fail of its ends, even in the malice of his own creatures. 
What power he suffers the devil to exercise in this 

25 world is too apparent by our daily experience ; and by 
nothing more than the late monstrous iniquities which 
you dispute for, and patronize in England : but would 
you inferr from thence, that the power of the devil is a 
just and lawful one; and that all men ought, as well as 

30 most men do, obey him ? God is the fountain of all 
powers ; but some flow from the right hand (as it were) 
of his goodness, and others from the left hand of his 
justice ; and the world, like an island between these 
two rivers, is sometimes refresht and nourisht by the 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 39 

one, and sometimes over-run and ruin'd by the other; 
and (to continue a Uttle farther the allegory) we are never 
overwhelm'd with the latter, till, either by our malice 
or negligence, we have stopt and damm'd up the former. 

But to come up a little closer to your argument, or 5 
rather the image of an argument, your similitude. If 
Cromwel had come to command in Ireland in the place 
of the late Lord Strafford, I should have yielded 
obedience, not for the equipage, and the strength, and 
the guards which he brought with him, but for the com- 10 
mission which he should first have shewed me from our 
common sovereign which sent him; and, if he could have 
done that from God Almighty, I would have obeyed 
him too in England; but that he was so far from being 
able to do, that, on the contrary, I read nothing but 15 
commands, and even public proclamations, from God 
Almighty, not to admit him. 

Your second argument is, that he had the same right 
for his authority, that is the foundation of all others, 
even the right of conquest. Are we then so unhappy 20 
as to be conquer'd by the person, whom we hired at a 
daily rate, like a labourer, to conquer others for us? 
Did we furnish him with arms, only to draw and try upon 
our enemies (as we, it seems, falsly thought them), and 
keep them for ever sheath'd in the bowels of his friends? 25 
Did we fight for liberty against our prince, that we might 
become slaves to our servant? This is such an impudent 
pretence, as neither he nor any of his flatterers for him 
had ever the face to mention. Though it can hardly be 
spoken or thought of without passion, yet I shall, if you 30 
please, argue it more calmly than the case deserves. 

The right, certainly, of conquest can only be exercised 
upon those, against whom the war is declared, and the 
victory obtained. So that no whole nation can be said 



40 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

to be conquered, but by foreign force. In all civil 
wars, men are so far from stating the quarrel against 
their country, that they do it only against a person, or 
party, which they really believe, or at least pretend, to 

5 be pernicious to it ; neither can there be any just cause 
for the destruction of a part of the body, but when it is 
done for the preservation and safety of the whole. 'Tis 
our country that raises men in the quarrel, our country 
that arms, our country that pays them, our country that 

lo authorises the undertaking, and, by that, distinguishes it 
from rapine and murder; lastly, 'tis our country that 
directs and commands the army, and is indeed their 
general. So that to say, in civil wars, that the prevailing 
party conquers their country, is to say, the country 

15 conquers itself And if the general only of that party be 
conqueror, the army by which he is made so is no less 
conquered than the army which is beaten, and have as 
little reason to triumph in that victory, by which they 
lose both their honour and liberty. So that if Cromwel 

20 conquer'd any party, it was only that against which he 
was sent ; and what that was must appear by his com- 
mission. It was (says that) against a company of evil 
counsellors and disaftected persons, who kept the king 
from a good intelligence and conjunction with his people. 

25 It was not then against the people. It is so far from 
being so, that even of that party which was beaten, the 
conquest did not belong to Cromwel, but to the parliament 
which employed him in their service, or rather, indeed, 
to the king and parliament, for whose service (if there 

30 had been any faith in men's vows and protestations) the 
wars were undertaken. Merciful God ! did the right of 
this miserable conquest remain then in his majesty ; and 
didst thou suffer him to be destroyed with more barbarity 
than if he had been conquered even by savages and 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 41 

cannibals ? Was it for king and parliament that we 
fought ; and has it fared with them just as with the army 
which we fought against, the one part being slain, and 
the other fled ? It appears therefore plainly, that 
Cromvvel was not a conqueror, but a thief and a robber 5 
of the rights of the king and parliament, and an usurper 
upon those of the people. I do not here deny conquest 
to be sometimes (though it be very rarely) a true title; 
but I deny this to be a true conquest. Sure I am, that 
the race of our princes came not in by such a one. One 10 
nation may conquer another, sometimes, justly ; and if it 
be unjustly, yet still it is a true conquest, and they are to 
answer for the injustice only to God Almighty (having 
nothing else in authority above them,) and not as 
particular rebels to their country, which is, and ought 15 
always to be, their superior and their lord. If, perhaps, 
we find usurpation instead of conquest in the original 
titles of some royal families abroad (as, no doubt, there 
have been many usurpers before ours, though none in so 
impudent and execrable a manner ;) all I can say for 20 
them is, that their title was very weak, till, by length of 
time, and the death of all juster pretenders, it became to 
be the true, because it was the only one. 

Your third defence of his highness (as your highness 
pleases to call him) enters in most seasonably after his 25 
pretence of conquest ; for then a man may say any thing. 
The government was broken ; who broke it ? It was 
dissolved ; who dissolved it ? It was extinguisht ; who 
was it, but Cromwel, who not only put out the light, 
but cast away even the very snuff of it ? As if a man 30 
should murder a whole family, and then possess himself 
of the house, because 'tis better that he, than that only 
rats should live there. Jesus God ! (said I, and at that 
word I perceived my pretended angel to give a start and 



42 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

trembled, but I took no notice of it, and went on) this 
were a wicked pretension, even though the whole family 
were destroyed ; but the heirs (blessed be God) are yet 
surviving, and likely to outlive all heirs of their dispos- 

5 sessors, besides their infamy. "Rode caper vitem," &c. 
There will be yet wine enough left for the sacrifice of 
those wild beasts, that have made so much spoil in the 
vineyard. But did Cromwel think, like Nero, to set 
the city on fire, only that he might have the honour of 

lo being founder of a new and more beautiful one ? He 
could not have such a shadow of virtue in his wickedness; 
he meant only to rob more securely and more richly in 
midst of the combustion ; he little thought then that he 
should ever have been able to make himself *lnaster of 

15 the palace, as well as plunder the goods of the common- 
wealth. He was glad to see the publick vessel (the 
sovereign of the seas) in as desperate a condition as his 
own little canow, and thought only, with some scattered 
planks of that great shipwrack, to make a better fisher- 

20 boat for himself. But when he saw that, by the drowning 
of the master (whom he himself treacherously knockt on 
the head, as he was swimming for his life), by the flight 
and dispersion of others, and cowardly patience of the 
remaining company, that all was abandoned to his 

25 pleasure ; with the old hulk and new misshapen and 
disagreeing pieces of his own, he made up, with much 
ado, that piratical vessel which we have seen him com- 
mand, and which, how tight indeed it was, may best be 
judged by its perpetual leaking. 

30 First then (much more wicked than those ioolish 
daughters in the fable, who cut their old father into 
pieces, in hope, by charms and witchcraft, to make him 
young and lusty again), this man endeavoured to destroy 
the building, before he could imagine in what manner, 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMIVEL. 43 

with what materials, by what workmen, or what architect, 
it was to be rebuilt. Secondly, if he had dreamt himself 
to be able to revive that body which he had killed, yet it 
had been but the insupportable insolence of an ignorant 
mountebank; and, thirdly, (which concerns us nearest,) 5 
that very new thing which he made out of the ruines of 
the old, is no more like the original, either for beauty, 
use, or duration, than an artificial plant, raised by the 
fire of a chymist, is comparable to the true and natural 
one which he first burnt, that out of the ashes of it he 10 
might produce an imperfect similitude of his own making. 
Your last argument is such (when reduced to syllo- 
gism), that the major proposition of it would make 
strange work in the world, if it were received for truth ; 
to wit, that he who has the best parts in a; nation, has 15 
the right of being king over it. We had enough to do 
here of old with the contention between two branches 
of the same family : what would become of us, when 
every man in England should lay his claim to the govern- 
ment ? And truly, if Cromwel should have commenced 20 
his plea, when he seems to have begun his ambition, 
there were few persons besides, that might not at the 
same time have put in theirs too. But his deserts, I 
suppose, you will date from the same term that I do his 
great demerits, that is, from the beginning of our late 25 
calamities (for, as for his private faults before, I can 
only wish, and that with as much charity to him as to 
the publick, that he had continued in them till his death, 
rather than changed them for those of his later days) ; 
and, therefore, we must begin the consideration of his 30 
greatness from the unlucky aera of our own misfortunes, 
which puts me in mind of what was said less truly of 
Pompey the Great, " Nostra miseria magnus es." But, 
because the general ground of your argumentation con- 



44 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

sists in this, that all men who are the effectors of extra- 
ordinary mutations in the world, must needs have 
extraordinary forces of nature by which they are enabled 
to turn about, as they please, so great a wheel ; I shall 
5 speak first a few words upon this universal proposition, 
which seems so reasonable, and is so popular, before I 
descend to the particular examination of the eminencies 
of that person which is in question. 

I have often observed (with all submission and resig- 

lo nation of spirit to the inscrutable mysteries of Eternal 
Providence), that, when the fulness and maturity of time 
is come, that produces the great confusions and changes 
in the world, it usually pleases God to make it appear 
by the manner of them, that they are not the effects of 

15 humane force or policy, but of the divine justice and 
predestination ; and, though we see a man, like that 
which we call Jack of the clock-house, striking, as it 
were, the hour of that fulness of time, yet our reason 
must needs be convinced, that his hand is moved by 

20 some secret, and, to us that stand without, invisible 
direction. And the stream of the current is then so 
violent, that the strongest men in the world cannot draw 
up against it ; and none are so weak, but they may sail 
down with it. These are the spring-tides of publick 

25 affairs, which we see often happen, but seek in vain to 
discover any certain causes : 

— Omnia fluminis 
Ritu feruntur, nunc medio alveo 
Cum pace delabentis Etruscum 
20 In mare, nunc lapides adesos, 

Stirpesque raptas, & pecus, & domos 
Volventis una, non sine montium 
Clamore, vicinoeque sylvoe ; 
Cum fera diluvies quietos 
35 Irritat amnes. 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL, 45 

And one man then, by maliciously opening all the 
sluyces that he can come at, can never be the sole author 
of all this (though he may be as guilty as if really he 
were, by intending and imagining to be so) ; but it is 
God that breaks up the flood-gates of so general a deluge, 5 
and all the art then, and industry of mankind, is not 
sufficient to raise up dikes and ramparts against it. In 
such a time it was as this, that not all the wisdom and 
power of the Roman senate, nor the wit and eloquence 
of Cicero, nor the courage and virtue of Brutus, was 10 
able to defend their country or themselves, against the 
unexperienced rashness of a beardless boy, and the loose 
rage of a voluptuous madman. The valour, and prudent 
counsels, on the one side, are made fruitless, and the 
errors, and cowardise, on the other, harmless, by unex- 15 
pected accidents. The one general saves his life, and 
gains the whole world, by a very dream ; and the other 
loses both at once, by a little mistake of the shortness 
of his sight. And though this be not always so, for we 
see that, in the translation of the great monarchies from 20 
one to another, it pleased God to make choice of the 
most eminent men in nature, as Cyrus, Alexander, 
Scipio and his contemporaries, for his chief instruments, 
and actors, in so admirable a work (the end of this 
being, not only to destroy or punish one nation, which 25 
may be done by the worst of mankind, but to exalt and 
bless another, which is only to be effected by great and 
virtuous persons) ; yet, when God only intends the tem- 
porary chastisement of a people, he does not raise up 
his servant Cyrus (as he himself pleased to call him), 30 
or an Alexander (who had as many virtues to do good, 
as vices to do harm) ; but he makes the Massenellos, 
and the Johns of Leyden, the instruments of his ven- 
geance, that the power of the Almighty might be more 



46 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

evident by the weakness of the means which he chooses 
to demonstrate it. He did not assemble the serpents, 
and the monsters of Africk, to correct the pride of the 
Egyptians; but called for his army of locusts out of 
5 i^thiopia, and formed new ones of vermin out of the 
very dust ; and, because you see a whole country de- 
stroyed by these, will you argue from thence they must 
needs have had both the craft of foxes, and the courage 
of lions ? 

lo It is easie to apply this general observation to the 
particular case of our troubles in England : and that 
they seem only to be meant for a temporary chastise- 
ment of our sins, and not for a total abolishment of the 
old, and introduction of a new government, appears 

15 probable to me from these considerations, as far as we 
may be bold to make a judgment of the will of God in 
future events. First, because he has suffered nothing 
to settle, or take root, in the place of that which hath 
been so unwisely and unjustly removed, that none of 

20 these untempered mortars can hold out against the next 
blast of wind, nor any stone stick to a stone, till that 
which these loolish builders have refused be made again 
the head of the corner. For, when the indisposed and 
long-tormented commonwealth hath wearied and spent 

25 itself almost to nothing, with the chargeable, various, 
and dangerous experiments of several mountebanks, it 
is to be supposed, it will have the wit at last to send for 
a true physician, especially when it sees (which is the 
second consideration) most evidently (as it now begins 

30 to do, and will do every day more and more, and might 
have done perfectly long since) that no usurpation 
(under what name or pretext soever) can be kept up 
without open force, nor force without the continuance 
of those oppressions upon the people, which will at last 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 47 

tire out their patience, though it be great even to 
stupidity. They cannot be so dull (when poverty and 
hunger begin to whet their understanding) as not to 
find out this no extraordinary mystery, that it is mad- 
ness in a nation to pay three milhons a year for the 5 
maintaining of their servitude under tyrants, when they 
might Uve free for nothing under their princes. This, 
I say, will not always lye hid, even to the slowest 
capacities ; and the next truth they will discover after- 
wards is, that a whole people can never have the will, 10 
without having, at the same time, the power to redeem 
themselves. Thirdly, it does not look (methinks) as if 
God had forsaken the family of that man, from whom he 
hath raised up five children, of as eminent virtue, and all 
other commendable qualities, as ever lived perhaps (for 15 
so many together, and so young) in any other family in 
the whole world. Especially, if we add hereto this con- 
sideration, that, by protecting and preserving some of 
them already through as great dangers as ever were 
past with safety, either by prince or private person, he 20 
hath given them already (as we may reasonably hope 
to be meant) a promise and earnest of his future favours. 
And, lastly, (to return -closely to the discourse from 
which I have a little digress'd) because I see nothing of 
those excellent parts of nature, and mixture of merit 25 
with their vices, in the late disturbers of our peace and 
happiness, that uses to be found in the persons of those 
who are born for the erection of new empires. 

And, I confess, I find nothing of that kind, no nor 
any shadow (taking away the false light of some pros- 30 
perity) in the man whom you extol for the first example 
of it. And, certainly, all virtues being rightly divided 
into moral and intellectual, I know not how we can 
better judge of the former, than by men's actions; or of 



48 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

the latter, than by their writings, or speeches. As for 
these latter (which are least in merit, or, rather, which 
are only the instruments of mischief, where the other 
are wanting,) I think you can hardly pick out the name 

5 of a man who ever was called great, besides him we are 
now speaking of, who never left the memory behind him 
of one wise or witty apothegm even amongst his 
domestic servants or greatest flatterers. That little in 
print, which remains upon a sad record for him, is 

lo such, as a satyre against him would not have made him 
say, for fear of transgressing too much the rules of pro- 
babihty. I know not what you can produce for the 
justification of his parts in this kind, but his having been 
able to deceive so many particular persons, and so many 

15 whole parties ; which, if you please to take notice of for 
the advantage of his intellectuals, I desire you to allow 
me the liberty to do so too when I am to speak of his 
morals. The truth of the thing is this, that if craft be 
wisdom, and dissimulation wit (assisted both and im- 

20 proved with hypocrisies and perjuries), I must not deny 
him to have been singular in both ; but so gross was the 
manner in which he made use of them, that, as wise men 
ought not to have believed hin; at first, so no man was 
fool enough to believe him at last : neither did any man 

25 seem to do it, but those who thought they gained as much 
by that dissembling, as he did by his. His very actings 
of godUness grew at last as ridiculous, as if a player, by 
putting on a gown, should think he represented excel- 
lently a woman, though his beard, at the same time, 

30 were seen by all the spectators. If you ask me, why 
they did not hiss, and explode him off the stage ; I can 
only answer, that they durst not do so, because the 
actors and the door-keepers were too strong for the 
company. I must confess that by these arts (how 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMIVEL. 49 

grossly soever managed, as by hypocritical praying and 
silly preaching, by unmanly tears and vvhinings, by false- 
hoods and perjuries even diabolical) he had at first the 
good-fortune (as men call it that is the ill-fortune) to 
attain his ends ; but it was because his ends were so un- 5 
reasonable, that no human reason could foresee them ; 
which made them who had to do with him believe, that 
he was rather a well-meaning and deluded bigot, than a 
crafty and malicious impostor: that these arts were 
helpt by an indefatigable industry (as you term it), I 10 
am so far from doubting, that I intended to object that 
diligence as the worst of his crimes. It makes me 
almost mad, when I hear a man commended for his 
diligence in wickedness. If I were his son, I should 
wish to God he had been a more lazy person, and that 15 
we might have found him sleeping at the hours when 
other men are ordinarily waking, rather than waking 
for those ends of his when other men were ordinarily 
asleep. How diligent the wicked are, the Scripture 
often tells us ; Their feet run to evil, a7id they make haste 20 
to shed innocent blood, Isai. lix. 7. He travails with 
iniquity, Psal. vii. 14. He deviseth mischief upon his bed, 
Psal. xxxiv. 4. They search out iniquity, they accomplish 
a diligent search, Psal. Ixiv. 6; and in a multitude of 
other places. And would it not seem ridiculous to 25 
praise a wolf for his watchfulness, and for his inde- 
fatigable industry in ranging all night about the countrey, 
whilst the sheep, and perhaps the shepherd, and perhaps 
the very dogs too, are asleep ? 

The Chartreux wants the warning of a bell 30 

To call him to the duties of his cell; 

There needs no noise at all t'awaken sin, 

Th' adulterer and the thief his 'larum has within. 

And if the diligence of wicked persons be so much 

L. C. A 



50 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

to be blamed, as that it is only an emphasis and ex- 
aggeration of their wickedness, I see not how their 
courage can avoid the same censure. If the under- 
taking bold and vast and unreasonable designs can de- 

5 serve that honourable name, I am sure, Faux, and his 
fellow gun-powder fiends, will have cause to pretend, 
though not an equal, yet at least the next place of 
honour ; neither can I doubt but, if they too had suc- 
ceeded, they would have found their applauders and 

lo admirers. It was bold, unquestionably, for a man, in 
defiance of all humane and divine laws, (and widi so little 
probability of a long impunity,) so publickly and so out- 
ragiously to murder his master ; it was bold, with so 
much insolence and affront, to expel and disperse all 

15 the chief partners of his guilt, and creators of his 
power ; it was bold, to violate, so openly and so scorn- 
fully, all acts and constitutions of a nation, and after- 
wards even of his own making ; it was bold, to assume 
the authority of calling, and bolder yet of breaking, so 

20 many parliaments ; it was bold, to trample upon the 
patience of his own, and provoke that of all neighbour- 
ing countries \ it was bold, I say, above all boldnesses, 
to usurp the tyranny to himself; and impudent above 
all impudences, to endeavour to transmit it to his pos- 

25 terity. But all this boldness is so far from being a design 
of manly courage, which dares not transgress the rules 
of any other virtue, that it is only a demonstration of 
brutish madness or diabolical passion. In both which 
last cases there use frequent examples to appear, of such 

30 extraordinary force as may justly seem more wonderful 
and astonishing than the actions of Cromwel ; neither is 
it stranger to believe that a whole nation should not be 
able to govern him and a mad army, than that five or 
six men should not be strong enough to bind a distracted 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 51 

girl. There is no man ever succeeds in one wickedness, 
but it gives him the boldness to attempt a greater. 'Twas 
boldly done of Nero to kill his mother, and all the 
chief nobility of the empire; 'twas boldly done, to 
set the metropolis of the whole world on fire, and un- 5 
dauntedly play upon his harp, whilst he saw it burning ; 
I could reckon up five hundred boldnesses of that great 
person, (for why should not he too be called so?) who 
wanted, when he was to dye, that courage which could 
hardly have failed any woman in the like necessity. 10 

It would look (I must confess,) like envy, or too 
much partiality, if I should say that personal kind of 
courage had been deficient in the man we speak of; I 
am confident it was not : and yet I may venture, I 
think, to affirm, that no man ever bore the honour of so 15 
many victories, at the rate of fewer wounds or dangers 
of his own body ; and though his valour might perhaps 
have given him a just pretension to one of the first 
charges in an army, it could not certainly be a sufficient 
ground for a title to the command of three nations. 20 

What then shall we say, that he did all this by 
witchcraft? He did so, indeed, in a great measure, by 
a sin that is called like it in the Scriptures. But, truly 
and unpassionately reflecting upon the advantages of 
his person, which might be thought to have produced 25 
those of his fortune, I can espy no other but extra- 
ordinary diligence, and infinite dissimulation ; and be- 
lieve he was exalted above his nation, partly by his own 
faults, but chiefly for ours. 

We have brought him thus briefly (not through all 30 
his labyrinths) to the supream usurpt authority; and, 
because you say it was great pity he did not live to 
command more kingdoms, be pleased to let me represent 
to you, in a few words, how well I conceive he governed 

4—2 



52 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

these. And we will divide the consideration into that 
of his foreign and domestique actions. The first of his 
foreign was a peace with our brethren of Holland (who 
were the first of our neighbours that God chastised for 
5 having had so great a hand in the encouraging and 
abetting our troubles at home) : who would not imagine, 
at first glympse, that this had been the most virtuous 
and laudable deed, that his whole life could have made 
any parade of? But no man can look upon all the cir- 

lo cumstances, without perceiving, that it was purely the 
sale and sacrificing of the greatest advantages that this 
countrey could ever hope, and was ready to reap, from 
a foreign war, to the private interests of his covetous- 
ness and ambition, and the security of his new and un- 

15 setled usurpation. No sooner is that danger past, but 
this Beatus Pacificus is kindling a fire in the northern 
world, and carrying a war two thousand miles off, west- 
wards. Two millions a year (besides all the vails of 
his protectorship) is as little capable to suffice now 

20 either his avarice or prodigality, as the two hundred 
pounds were, that he was born to. He must have his 
prey of the whole Indies, both by sea and land, this 
great aligator. To satisfy our Anti-Solomon (who has 
made silver almost as rare as gold, and gold as precious 

25 stones in his new Jerusalem) we must go, ten thousand 
of his slaves, to fetch him riches from his fantastical 
Ophir. And, because his flatterers brag of him as the 
most fortunate prince (the Faustus as well as Sylla of 
our nation, whom God never forsook in any of his un- 

30 dertakings), I desire them to consider, how, since the 
English name was ever heard of, it never received so 
great and so infamous a blow as under the imprudent 
conduct of this unlucky Faustus ; and herein let me 
admire the justice of God, in this circumstance, that 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 53 

they who had enslaved their country, though a great 
army, (which I wish, may be observed by ours with 
trembhng), should be so shamefully defeated, by the 
hands of forty slaves. It was very ridiculous to see 
how prettily they endeavoured to hide this ignominy, 5 
under the great name of the conquest of Jamaica ; as if 
a defeated army should have the impudence to brag 
afterwards of the victory, because, though they had fled 
out of the field of battel, yet they quartered that night 
in a village of the enemies. The war with Spain was 10 
a necessary consequence of this folly; and how much 
we have gotten by it, let the custom-house and exchange 
inform you ; and, if he please to boast of the taking a 
part of the silver fleet, (which indeed nobody else but 
he who was the sole gainer, has cause to do), at least, 15 
let him give leave to the rest of the nation (which is the 
only loser), to complain of the loss of twelve hundred 
of her ships. 

But, because it may here, perhaps, be answered, that 
his successes nearer home have extinguisht the dis- 20 
grace of so remote miscarriages, and that Dunkirk ought 
more to be remembered for his glory, than S. Domingo 
for his disadvantage ; I must confess, as to the honour 
of the English courage, that they were not wanting upon 
that occasion (excepting only the fault of serving at 25 
least indirectly against their master), to the upholding 
of the renown of their war-like ancestors. But, for his 
particular share of it, who sate still at home, and 
exposed them so frankly abroad, I can only say, that 
for less money than he in the short time of his reign 30 
exacted from his fellow-subjects, some of our former 
princes (with the daily hazard of their own persons) 
have added to the dominion of England, not only one 
town, but even a greater kingdom than itself. And, 



54 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

this being all considerable as concerning his enterprises 
abroad, let us examine, in the next place, how much 
we owe him for his justice and good government at 
home. 

5 And, first, he found the commonwealth (as then they 
called it) in ready stock of about 800,000 pounds ; he left 
the commonwealth (as he had the impudent raillery still 
to call it) some two millions and a half in debt. He 
found our trade very much decayed indeed, in com- 

10 parison of the golden times of our late princes ; he left 
it, as much again more decayed than he found it : and 
yet, not only no prince in England, but no tyrant in the 
world, ever sought out more base or infamous means to 
raise moneys. I shall only instance in one that he put 

15 in practice, and another that he attempted, but was 
frighted from the execution (even he) by the infamy 
of it. That which he put in practice, was decimation ; 
which was the most impudent breach of a public faith 
that the whole nation had given, and all private capitu- 

20 lations which himself had made, as the nation's general 
and servant, that can be found out (I believe) in all 
history, from any of the most barbarous generals of the 
most barbarous people. Which, because it has been 
most excellently, and most largely, laid open by a whole 

25 book written upon that subject, I shall only desire you 
here to remember the thing in general, and to be pleased 
to look upon that author, when you would recollect all 
the particulars and circumstances of the iniquity. The 
other design, of raising a present sum of money, which 

30 he violently pursued, but durst not put in execution, was 
by the calling in and establishment of the Jews at 
London ; from which he was rebuked by the universal 
outcry of the divines, and even of the citizens too, who 
took it ill, that a considerable number, at least amongst 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 55 

themselves, were not thought Jews enough by their own 
Herod. And for this design, they say, he invented (O 
Antichrist ! IlovT/poV and Iloi/rypos) to sell S. Paul's to 
them for a synagogue, if their purses and devotions 
could have reacht to the purchase. And this, indeed, 5 
if he had done only to reward that nation, which had 
given the first noble example of crucifying their king, it 
might have had some appearance of gratitude : but he 
did it only for love of their mammon ; and would have 
sold afterwards, for as much more, S. Peter's (even at his 10 
own Westminster) to the Turks for a mosquito. Such 
was his extraordinary piety to God, that he desired he 
might be worshiped in all manners, excepting only that 
heathenish way of the Common-prayer-book. But what 
do T speak of his wicked inventions for getting money; 15 
when every peny, that for almost five years he took 
every day from every man living in England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, was as much robbery, as if it had been 
taken by a thief upon the highways? Was it not so? or 
can any man think that Cromwel, with the assistance of 20 
his forces and moss-troopers, had more right to the 
command of all men's purses, than he might have had 
to any one's, whom he had met, and been too strong for, 
upon a road ? And yet, when this came, in the case of 
Mr Coney, to be disputed by a legal tryal, he (which was 25 
the highest act of tyranny that ever was seen in England) 
not only discouraged and threatned, but violently im- 
prisoned the council of the plaintiff; that is, he shut up 
the law itself close prisoner, that no man might have 
relief from, or access to it. And it ought to be re- 30 
membred, that this was done by those men, who, a few 
years before, had so bitterly decried, and openly opposed, 
the king's regular and formal way of proceeding in the 
trial of a little ship-money. 



56 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

But, though we lost the benefit of our old courts of 
justice, it cannot be denyed that he set up new ones ; 
and such they were that, as no virtuous prince before 
would, so no ill one durst erect. What, have we lived 

5 so many hundred years under such a form of justice as 
has been able regularly to punish all men that offend 
against it ; and is it so deficient just now, that we must 
seek out new ways how to proceed against offenders? 
The reason which can only be given in nature for a 

lo necessity of this is, because those things are now made 
crimes, which were never esteemed so in former ages ; 
and there must needs be a new court set up to punish 
that, which all the old ones were bound to protect and 
reward. But I am so far from declaiming (as you call 

15 it) against these wickednesses, (which, if I should under- 
take to do, I should never get to the peroration), that 
you see I only give a hint of some few, and pass over 
the rest, as things that are too many to be numbred, and 
must only be weighed in gross. Let any man shew me, 

20 (for, though I pretend not to much reading, I will defie 
him in all history), let any man shew me (I say) an 
example of any nation in the world, (though much 
greater than ours), where there have, in the space of four 
years, been so many prisoners, only out of the endless 

25 jealousies of one tyrant's guilty imagination. I grant 
you that Marius and Sylla, and the cursed triumvirate 
after them, put more people to death ; but the reason, I 
think, partly was, because in those times, that had a 
mixture of some honour with their madness, they thought 

30 it a more civil revenge against a Roman, to take away 
his life, than to take away his liberty. But truly in the 
point of murder too we have little reason to think that 
our late tyranny has been deficient to the examples that 
have evei* been set it, in other countries. Our judges 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 57 

and our courts of justice have not been idle : and, to 
omit the whole reign of our late king (till the beginning 
of the war), in which no drop of blood was ever drawn 
but from two or three ears, I think the longest time of 
our worst princes scarce saw many more executions, 5 
than the short one of our blest reformer. And we saw, 
and smelt in our open streets, (as I markt to you at 
first), the broyling of human bowels as a burnt-offering 
of a sweet savour to our idol ; but all murdering, and all 
torturing (though after the subtilest invention of his 10 
predecessors of Sicilie), is more humane and more sup- 
portable, than his selling of Christians, Englishmen, 
gentlemen ; his selHng of them (oh monstrous ! oh in- 
credible !) to be slaves in America. If his whole life 
could be reproacht with no other action, yet this alone 15 
would weigh down all the multiplicity of crimes in any 
one of our tyrants; and I dare only touch, without 
stopping or insisting upon so insolent and so execrable 
a cruelty, for fear of falling into so violent (though a 
just) passion, as would make me exceed that temper and 20 
moderation, which I resolve to observe in this discourse 
with you. 

These are great calamities ; but even these are not 
the most insupportable that we have indured ; for so it 
is, that the scorn, and mockery, and insultings of an 25 
enemy are more painful than the deepest wounds of his 
serious fury. This man was wanton and merry (un wittily 
and ungracefully merry) with our sufferings : he loved to 
say and do senseless and fantastical things, only to shew 
his power of doing or saying anything. It would ill 30 
befit mine, or any civil mouth, to repeat those words 
which he spoke concerning the most sacred of our 
English laws, the Petition of Right, and Magna Charta. 
To-day you should see him ranting so wildly, that no- 



58 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

body durst come near him ; the morrow flinging of 
cushions, and playing at snow-balls with his servants. 

This month he assembles a parliament, and professes 
himself, with humble tears, to be only their servant and 

5 their minister ; the next month he swears by the living 
God, that he will turn them out of doors, and he does 
so, in his princely way of threatning, bidding them, turn 
the buckles of their girdles behind them. The re- 
presentative of a whole, nay of three whole nations, 

lo was, in his esteem, so contemptible a meeting, that he 
thought the affronting and expeUing of them to be a 
thing of so little consequence, as not to deserve that he 
should advise with any mortal man about it. What shall 
we call this? boldness, or brutishness? rashness, or 

15 phrensie? There is no name can come up to it; and 
therefore we must leave it without one. Now a par- 
liament must be chosen in the new manner, next time in 
the old form, but all cashiered still after the newest 
mode. Now he will govern by major-generals, now by 

20 one house, now by another house, now by no house; 
now the freak takes him, and he makes seventy peers of 
the land at one clap [ex tei?ipore^ and stans pede in uno); 
and to manifest the absolute power of the potter, he 
chooses not only the worst clay he could find, but picks 

25 up even the dirt and mire, to form out of it his vessels 
of honour. It was antiently said of Fortune, that, when 
she had a mind to be merry, and to divert herself, she 
was wont to raise up such kind of people to the highest 
dignities. This son of Fortune, Cromwel (who was 

30 himself one of the primest of her jests), found out the 
true haut-goiist of this pleasure, and rejoyced in the ex- 
travagance of his ways, as the fullest demonstration of 
his uncontroulable soveraignty. Good God ! What have 
we seen } and what have we suffered ? what do all these 



GOVERNMENT OE OLIVER CROMWEL, 59 

actions signifie ? what do they say aloud to the whole 
nation, but this, (even as plainly as if it were proclaimed 
by heralds through the streets of London), "You are 
slaves and fools, and so I'll use you!" 

These are briefly a part of those merits which you 5 
lament to have wanted the reward of more kingdoms, 
and suppose that, if he had lived longer, he might have 
had them : which I am so far from concurring to, that I 
believe his seasonable dying to have been a greater good 
fortune to him, than all the victories and prosperities of 10 
his life. For he seemed evidently (methinks) to be near 
the end of his deceitful glories ; his own army grew at 
last as weary of him, as the rest of the people ; and I 
never pass'd of late before his palace (his, do I call it ? 
I ask God and the king pardon), but I never passt of 15 
late before Whitehal, without reading upon the gate of 
it, Mejie Mene, Tekel, Upharsiii. But it pleased God to 
take him from the ordinary courts of men, and juries of 
his peers, to his own high court of justice ; which being 
more merciful than ours below, there is a little room yet 20 
left for the hope of his friends, if he have any ; though 
the outward unrepentance of his death afford but small 
materials for the work of charity, especially if he designed 
even then to entail his own injustice upon his children, 
and, by it, inextricable confusions and civil wars upon 25 
the nation. But here's at least an end of him. And 
where's now the fruit of all that blood and calamity, 
which his ambition has cost the world ? Where is it ? 
Why, his son (you'l say) has the whole crop ; I doubt he 
will find it quickly blasted ; I have nothing to say 30 
against the gentleman, or any living of his family; on 
the contrary, I wish him better fortune, than to have a 
long and unquiet possession of his master's inheritance. 
Whatsoever I have spoken against his father, is that 



6o A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

which I should have thought (though decency, perhaps, 
might have hindered me from saying it) even against 
mine own, if I had been so unhappy, as that mine, by 
the same ways should have left me three kingdoms. 

5 Here I stopt ; and my pretended protector, who, I 
expected, should have been very angry, fell a laughing; 
it seems at the simplicity of my discourse, for thus he 
replyed : "You seem to pretend extreamly to the old 
obsolete rules of virtue and conscience, which makes me 

lo doubt very much, whether, from the vast prospect of 
three kingdoms, you can shew me any acres of your 
own. But these are so far from making you a prince, 
that I am afraid your friends will never have the con- 
tentment to see you so much as a justice of peace in 

15 your own country. For this I perceive which you call 
virtue, is nothing else but either the frowardness of a 
Cynick, or the laziness of an Epicurean. I am glad you 
allow me at least artful dissimulation, and unwearied 
diligence in my heroe ; and I assure you, that he, whose 

20 life is constantly drawn by those two, shall never be 
misled out of the way of greatness. But I see you are 
a pedant, and Platonical statesman, a theoretical com- 
monwealth's-man, an Utopian dreamer. Was ever riches 
gotten by your golden mediocrities? or the supream 

25 place attained to by virtues that must not stir out of the 
middle ? Do you study Aristotle's politicks, and write, if 
you please, comments upon them ; and let another but 
practise Machiaval : and let us see, then, which of you 
two will come to the greatest preferments. If the desire 

30 of rule and superiority be a virtue, (as sure I am it is 
more imprinted in human nature than any of your 
lethargical morals;) and what is the virtue of any 
creature, but the exercise of those powers and inclina- 
tions which God hath infused into it ? If that (I say) be 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEL. 6i 

virtue, we ought not to esteem any thing vice, which is 
the most proper, if not the only, means of attaining of it. 

It is a truth so certain, and so clear, 

That to the firstborn man it did appear; 

Did not the mighty heir, the noble Cain, 5 

By the fresh laws of nature taught, disdain 

That (though a brother) any one should be 

A greater favourite to God than he? 

He struck him down ; and, so (said he) so fell 

The sheep, which thou didst sacrifice so well. 10 

Since all the fullest sheaves which I could bring, 

Since all were blasted in the offering. 

Lest God should my next victim too despise, 

The acceptable priest I'll sacrifice. 

Hence, coward fears ; for the first blood so spilt, 15 

As a reward, he the first city built. 

'Twas a beginning generous and high, 

Fit for a grand-child of the Deity. 

So well advanc'd, 'twas pity there he staid; 

One step of glory more he should have made, 20 

And to the utmost bounds of greatness gone ; 

Had Adam too been kill'd, he might have reign'd alone. 

One brother's death, what do I mean to name, 

A small oblation to revenge and fame? 

The mighty-soul'd Abimelech, to shew 25 

What for a high place a higher spirit can do, 

A hecatomb almost of brethren slew, 

And seventy times in nearest blood he dy'd 

(To make it hold) his royal purple pride. 

Why do I name the lordly creature man? 30 

The weak, the mild, the coward woman, can, 

When to a crown she cuts her sacred way, 

All that oppose, with manlike courage, slay. 



62 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE 

So Athaliah, when she saw her son, 

And with his life her dearer greatness gone, 

With a majestick fury slaughter'd all 

Whom high birth might to high pretences call : 
5 Since he was dead who all her power sustain'd, 

Resolv'd to reign alone ; resolv'd and reign'd. 

In vain her sex, in vain the laws withstood, 

In vain the sacred plea of David's blood ; 

A noble, and a bold contention, she 
lo (One woman) undertook with destinie. 

She to pluck down, destiny to uphold 

(Oblig'd by holy oracles of old) 

The great Jesscean race on Judah's throne ; 

Till 'twas at last an equal wager grown, 
15 Scarce fate, with much ado, the better got by one. 

Tell me not, she herself at last was slain ; 

Did she not, first, seven years (a life-time) reign? 

Seven royal years to a public spirit will seem 

More than the private life of a Mathusalem. 
20 'Tis godlike to be great ; and, as they say, 

A thousand years to God are but a day; 

So to a man, when once a crown he wears. 

The coronation day's more than a thousand years." 

He would have gone on, I perceive, in his blasphe- 
25 mies, but that, by God's grace, 1 became so bold as 
thus to interrupt him : ''I understand now perfectly 
(which I guest at long before) what kind of angel and 
protector you are ; and, though your style in verse be 
very much mended since you were wont to deliver 
30 oracles, yet your doctrine is much worse than ever you 
had formerly (that I heard of) the face to publish ; 
whether your long practice with mankind has increas'd 
and improv'd your malice, or whether you think us in 



GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWEE 6^ 

this age to be grown so impudently wicked, that there 
needs no more art or disguises to draw us to your 
party." 

"My dominion (said he hastily, and with a dreadful 
furious look) is so great in this world, and I am so 5 
powerful a monarch of it, that I need not be ashamed 
that you should know me ; and that you may see I know 
you too, I know you to be an obstinate and inveterate 
malignant ; and for that reason I shall take you along 
with me to the next garrison of ours; from whence you 10 
shall go to the Tower, and from thence to the court of 
justice, and from thence you know whither." I was 
almost in the very pounces of the great bird of prey : 

When, lo, ere the last words were fully spoke. 

From a fair cloud, which rather ope'd than broke, 15 

A flash of light, rather than lightning, came. 

So swift and yet so gentle was the flame. 

Upon it rode, and, in his full career, 

Seem'd to my eyes no sooner there, than here. 

The comehest youth of all th'angelick race; 20 

Lovely his shape, ineffable his face. 

The frowns, with which he struck the trembling fiend, 

All smiles of human beauty did transcend ; 

His beams of locks fell part dishevel'd down, 

Part upwards curl'd, and form'd a nat'ral crown, 25 

Such as the British monarchs us'd to wear ; 

If gold may be compar'd with angel's hair. 

His coat and flowing mantle were so bright, 

They seem'd both made of woven silver light : 

Across his breast an azure ribon went, 30 

At which a medal hung, that did present 

In wondrous living figures to the sight, 

The mystic champion's, and old dragon's fight ; 



64 A DISCOURSE, ^c. 

And from his mantle's side there shone afar, 
A fix't, and, I believe, a real star. 
In his fair hand (what need was there of more ?) 
No arms, but th'English bloody cross, he bore, 

5 Which when he towards th'afifrighted tyrant bent. 
And some few words pronounc'd (but what they meant, 
Or were, could not, alas, by me be known. 
Only, I well perceiv'd, Jesus was one) 
He trembled, and he roar'd, and fled away ; 

lo Mad to quit thus his more than hop'd-for prey. 

Such rage inflames the wolf's wild heart and eyes 
(Robb'd, as he thinks, unjustly of his prize) 
Whom unawares the shepheard spies, and draws 
The bleating lamb from out his ravenous jaws: 

15 The shepheard fain himself would he assail, 
But fear above his hunger does prevail. 
He knows his foe too strong, and must be gone : 
He grins as he looks back, and howls as he goes on. 



SEVERAL DISCOURSES BY WAY- OF ESSAYS 
IN VERSE AND PROSE. 




OF LIBERTY. 

jHE liberty of a people consists in being 
governed by laws which they have made 
themselves, under whatsoever form it be of 
government : the liberty of a private man, in 
being master of his own time and actions, as far as may 5 
consist with the laws of God, and of his country. Of 
this latter only we are here to discourse, and to enquire 
what estate of life does best seat us in the possession of 
it. This liberty of our own actions is such a fundamental 
priviledge of humane nature, that God himself, not- 10 
withstanding all his infinite power and right over us, 
permits us to enjoy it, and that too after a forfeiture 
made by the rebellion of Adam. He takes so much 
care for the entire preservation of it to us, that he suffers 
neither his providence nor eternal decree to break or 15 
infringe it. Now for our time, the same God, to whom 
we are but tenants-at-will for the whole, requires but 
the seventh part to be paid to him as a small quit-rent 

L. c. 5 



66 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

in acknowledgment of his title. It is man only that 
has the impudence to demand our whole time, though 
he neither gave it, nor can restore it, nor is able to pay 
any considerable value for the least part of it. This 

5 birth-right of mankind above all other creatures some 
are forced by hunger to sell, like Esau, for bread and 
broth : but the greatest part of men make such a 
bargain for the delivery-up of themselves, as Thamer 
did with Judah ; instead of a kid, the necessary provisions 

lo of human life, they are contented to do it for rings and 
bracelets. The great dealers in this world may be divided 
into the ambitious, the covetous, and the voluptuous; 
and that all these men sell themselves to be slaves, 
though to the vulgar it may seem a Stoical paradox, will 

15 appear to the wise so plain and obvious, that they will 
scarce think it deserves the labour of argumentation. 

Let us first consider the ambitious ; and those, both 
in their progress to greatness, and after the attaining 
of it. There is nothing truer than what Salust says, 

20 '* Dominationis in alios servitium suum mercedem dant:" 
they are content to pay so great a price as their own 
servitude, to purchase the domination over others. The 
first thing they must resolve to sacrifice is their v/hole 
time; they must never stop, nor ever turn aside whilst 

25 they are in the race of glory, no not like Atalanta for 
golden apples. Neither, indeed, can a man stop himself 
if he would, when he's in this career : 

Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas. 

Pray, let us but consider a little, what mean .servile 

30 things men do for this imaginary food. We cannot 

fetch a greater example of it, than from the chief men 

of that nation which boasted most of liberty. To what 

pitiful baseness did the noblest Romans submit them- 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 67 

selves, for the obtaining of a praetors4iip, or the consular 
dignity ! They put on the habit of suppliants, and ran 
about on foot, and in dirt, through all the tribes, to beg 
voices ; they flattered the poorest artisons ; and carried 
a nomenclator with them, to whisper in their ear every 5 
man's name, lest they should mistake it in their salu- 
tations; they shook the hand, and kiss'd the cheek, 
of every popular tradesman ; they stood all day at every 
market in the publick places, to shew and ingratiate them- 
selves to the rout; they imploy'd all their friends to 10 
solicite for them ; they kept open tables in every street ; 
they distributed wine, and bread, and money, even to 
the vilest of the people. " En Romanos rerum dominos !" 
Behold the masters of the world begging from door to 
door. This particular humble way to greatness is now 15 
cut of fashion ; but yet every ambitious person is still, in 
some sort, a Roman candidate. He must feast and 
bribe, and attend and flatter, and adore many beasts, 
though not the beast with many heads. Catiline, who 
was so proud that he could not content himself with a 20 
less power than Sylla's, was yet so humble for the 
attaining of it, as to make himself the most contemptible 
of all servants. And, since I happen here to propose 
Catiline for my instance (though there be thousands of 
examples for the same thing,) give me leave to transcribe 25 
the character which Cicero gives of this noble slave, 
because it is a general description of all ambitious men, 
and which Machiavel, perhaps, would say ought to be 
the rule of their life and actions : 

"This man (says he, as most of you may well re- 30 
member) had many artificial touches and strokes, that 
look'd like the beauty of great virtues ; his intimate 
conversation was with the worst of men, and yet he 
seemed to be an admirer and lover of the best ; he was 

5—2 



68 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

furnished with all the nets of lust and luxury, and yet 
wanted not the arms of labour and industry : neither 
do I believe that there was ever any monster in nature, 
composed out of so many different and disagreeing parts. 

5 Who more acceptable, sometimes, to the most honourable 
persons ? Who more a favourite to the most infamous ? 
Who, sometimes, appeared a braver champion ; who, 
at other times, a bolder enemy to his country? Who 
more dissolute in his pleasures? Who more patient in 

lo his toils ? Who more rapacious in robbing ? Who more 
profuse in giving ? Above all things, this was remarkabU. 
and admirable in him, the arts he had to acquire the 
good opinion and kindness of all sorts of men, to retain 
it with great complaisance, to communicate all things to 

15 them, watch and serve all the occasions of their fortune, 
both with his money and his interest and his industry ; 
and, if need were, not by sticking at any wickedness 
whatsoever that might be useful to them, to bend and 
turn about his own nature and laveer with every wind ; 

20 to live severely with the melancholy, merrily with the 
pleasant, gravely with the aged, wantonly with the young, 
desperately with the bold, and debauchedly with the 
luxurious : with this variety and multiplicity of his 
nature — as he had made a collection of friendships with 

25 all the most wicked and restless of all nations ; so, by 
the artificial simulation of some virtues, he made a shift 
to ensnare some honest and eminent persons into his 
familiarity. Neither could so vast a design as the 
destruction of this empire have been undertaken by him, 

30 if the immanity of so many vices had not been covered 
and disguised by the appearances of some excellent 
qualities." 

I see, methinks, the character of an Anti-Paul, "who 
became all things to all men," that he might destroy 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 69 

all ; who only wanted the assistance of fortune, to have 
been as great as his friend Caesar was a little after him. 
And the ways of Caesar to compass the same ends 
(I mean to the civil war, which was but another man- 
ner of setting his country on fire) were not unlike 5 
these, though he used, afterward, his unjust dominion 
with more moderation, than I think the other would have 
done. Salust, therefore, who was well acquainted with 
them both, and with many such like gentlemen of his 
time, says, " that it is the nature of ambition, to make 10 
men lyars and cheaters, to hide the truth in their 
breasts, and shew, like juglers, another thing m their 
mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the mea- 
sure of their own interests, and to make a good coun- 
tenance without the help of good will." And can 15 
there be freedom with this perpetual constraint? what 
is it but a kind of rack, that forces men to say what 
they have no mind to ? 

I have wondred at the extravagant and barbarous 
stratagem of Zopyrus, and more at the praises which 20 
I find of so deformed an action ; who, though he was 
one of the seven grandees of Persia, and the son of 
Megabisus, who had freed, before, his country from an 
ignoble servitude, slit his own nose and lips, cut off his 
own ears, scourged and wounded his whole body, that 25 
he might, under pretence of having been mangled so 
inhumanely by Darius, be received into Babylon (then 
besieged by the Persians,) and get into the command 
of it by the recommendation of so cruel a sufferance, 
and their hopes of his endeavouring to revenge it. It 30 
is great pity, the Babylonians suspected not his fals- 
hood, that they might have cut off his hands too, and 
whipt him back again. But the design succeeded; he 
betrayed the city, and was made governor of it. What 



70 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

brutish master ever punished his offending slave with 
so Uttle mercy, as ambition did this Zopyrus? and yet 
how many are there, in all nations, who imitate him in 
some degree for a less reward ; who, though they endure 

5 not so much corporal pain for a small preferment or 
some honour (as they call it,) yet stick not to commit 
actions, by which they are more shamefully and more 
lastingly stigmatized ! But you may say, though these 
be the most ordinary and open ways to greatness, yet 

lo there are narrow, thorny, and little-trodden paths too, 
through which some men tind a passage by virtuous 
industry. I grant, sometimes they may ; but then, that 
industry must be such, as cannot consist with liberty, 
though it may with honesty. 

15 Thou'rt careful, frugal, painful; we commend a 
servant so, but not a friend. 

Well then, we must acknowledge the toil and 
drudgery which we are forced to endure in this ascent ; 
but we are epicures and lords when once we are gotten 

20 up into the high places. This is but a short appren- 
tiship, after which we are made free of royal com- 
pany. If we fall in love with any beauteous women, 
we must be content that they would be our mistresses 
whilst we woo them ; as soon as we are wedded and 

25 enjoy, 'tis we shall be the masters. 

I am wilhng to stick to this similitude in the case 
of greatness : we enter into the bonds of it, like those 
of matrimony ; we are bewitch'd with the outward 
and printed beauty, and take it for better or worse, 

30 before we know its true nature and interior incon- 
veniences. A great fortune (says Seneca) is a great 
servitude ; but many are of that opinion which Brutus 
imputes (I hope untruly) even to that patron of liberty, 
his friend Cicero : " We fear (says he to Atticas) death, 



IN VERSE AND FROSE. 71 

and banishment, and poverty, a great deal too much. 
Cicero, I am afraid, thinks these to be the worst of 
evils ; and if he have but some persons, from whom he 
can obtain what he has a mind to, and others who will 
flatter and worship him, seems to be well enough con- 5 
tented with an honourable servitude, if any thing, indeed, 
ought to be called honourable in so base and contume- 
lious a condition." This was spoken as became the 
bravest man who was ever born in the bravest common- 
wealth. But with us generally no condition passes 10 
for servitude, that is accompanied with great riches, 
and honors, and with the service of many inferiors. 
This is but a deception of the sight through a false 
medium ; for if a groom serve a gentleman in his 
chamber, that gentleman a lord, and that lord a prince ; 15 
the groom, the gentleman, and the lord, are as much 
servants one as the other : the circumstantial difference 
of the one getting only his bread and wages, the second 
a plentiful, and the third a superfluous estate, is no 
more intrinsical to this matter, than the difference be- 20 
tween a plain, a rich, and gaudy livery. I do not say, 
that he who sells his whole time and his own will for 
one hundred thousand, is not a wiser merchant than he 
who does it for one hundred pounds ; but I will swear 
they are both merchants, and that he is happier than 25 
both, who can live contentedly without seUing that 
estate to which he was born. But this dependance 
upon superiours is but one chain of the lovers of power : 

Amatorem trecento 
Piiithoum coliibent catenae. 30 

Let's begin with him by break of day : for by that 
time he's besieged by two or three hundred suitors ; 
and the hall and anticharnbers (all the outworks) pos- 
sest by the enemy : as soon as his chamber opens. 



72 DISCO UliSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

they are ready to break into that, or to corrupt the 
guards, for entrance. This is so essential a part of 
greatness, that wliosoever is without it, looks like a 
fallen favourite, like a person disgraced, and condemned 

5 to do what he pleases all the morning. There are some 
wlio, rather than want this, are contented to have their 
rooms filled up every day with murmuring and cursing 
creditors, and to charge bravely through a body of 
them to get to their coach. Now, I would fain know 

lo which is the worst duty, that of any one particular 
person who waits to speak with the great man, or the 
great man's, who waits every day to speak with all the 
company. 

Aliena negotia cenUim 

15 Per caput, et circa saliunt latus — 

a hundred businesses of other men (many unjust, and 
most impertinent) fly continually about his head and 
ears, and strike him in the face like dors. Let's con- 
template him a little at another special scene of glory, 

20 and that is, his table. Here he seems to be the lord 
of all nature : the earth affords him her best metals 
for his dishes, her best vegetables and animals for his 
food; the air and sea supply him with their choicest 
birds and fishes ; and a great many men, who look like 

25 masters, attend upon him ; and yet, when all this is 
done, even all this is but table d'host ; 'tis crowded with 
people for whom he cares not, with many parasites and 
some spies, with the most burdensome sort of guests, the 
endeavourers to be Avitty. 

30 But every body pays him great respect ; every body 
commends his meat, that is, his money; every body 
admires the exquisite dressing and ordering of it, that 
is, his dark of the kitchen, or liis cook ; every body 
loves his hospitality, that is, his vanity. But I desire 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 73 

to know why the honest inn-keeper, who provides a 
public table for hie profit, should be but of a mean 
profession ; and he, who does it for his honour, a 
munificent prince? You'll say, because one sells, 
and the other gives : nay, both sell, though for different 5 
things ; the one for plain money, the other for I know 
not what jewels, whose value is in custom and in fancy. 
If then his table be made a snare (as the Scripture 
speaks) to his liberty, where can he hope for freedom ? 
There is always, and every where, some restraint upon 10 
him. He's guarded with crowds, and shackled with 
formalities. The half hat, the whole hat, the half smile, 
the whole smile, the nod, the embrace, the positive 
parting with a little bow, the comparative at the middle 
of the room, the superlative at the door; and, if the 15 
person be pan huper sebastos^ there's a huper-superla- 
tive ceremony then of conducting him to the bottom 
of the stairs, or to the very gate : as if there were 
such rules set to these Leviathans as are to the sea. 
Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further. 20 

Perditur hrec inter misero lux, 

Thus wretchedly the precious day is lost. 

How many impertinent letters and visits must he re- 
ceive, and sometimes answer both too as impertinently ! 
He never sets his foot beyond his threshold, unless, like 25 
a funeral, he have a train to follow him; as if, like the 
dead corps, he would not stir, till the bearers were all 
ready. " My life (says Horace, speaking to one of these 
magnificos) is a great deal more easie and commodious 
than thine, in that I can go into the market, and cheapen 30 
what I please, without being wondered at ; and take 
my horse and ride as far as Tarentum, without being 
mist." 'Tis an unpleasant constraint to be always under 



74 DISCOURSES BY WAV OF ESSAYS, 

the sight and observation, and censure of others ; as 
there may be vanity in it. so, methinks, there should 
be vexation, too, of spirit : and I wonder how princes 
can endure to have two or three hundred men stand 
5 gazing upon them whilst they are at dinner, and take 
notice of every bit they eat. Nothing seems greater 
and more lordly than the multitude of domestique ser- 
vants ; but even this too, if weighed seriously, is a piece 
of servitude ; unless you will be a servant to them (as 

lo many men are,) the trouble and care of yours in the 
government of them all is much more than that of every 
one of them in their observance of you. I take the pro- 
fession of a school-master to be one of the most useful, 
and which ought to be of the most honourable in a 

15 commonwealth ; yet certainly all his fasces and tyran- 
nical authority over so many boys take away his own 
liberty more than theirs. 

1 do but slightly touch upon all these particulars of 
the slavery of greatness : 1 shake but a few of their 

20 outward chains ; their anger, hatred, jealousie, fear, 
envy, grief, and all the et ccetera of their passions, which 
are the secret, but constant, tyrants and tortures of 
their life, I omit here, because, though they be symp- 
tomes most frequent and violent in this disease, yet they 

25 are common too, in some degree, to the epidemical 
disease of life itself 

But the ambitious man, though he be so many ways a 
slave {O toties servus !) yet he bears it bravely and he- 
roically : he struts and looks big upon the stage ; he 

30 thinks himself a real prince in his masking-habit, and 
deceives, too, all the foolish part of his spectators : he's 
a slave m Sahirnalibiis. The covetous man is a down- 
right servant, a draught-horse with bells or feathers ; 
ad meialla damnatus, a man condemned to work in mines, 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 75 

which is the lowest and hardest condition of servitude ; 
and, to increase his misery, a worker there for he knows 
not whom : He heapeth up riches^ and knows not who 
shall enjoy them; 'Tis only sure, that he himself neither 
shall nor can enjoy them. He's an indigent needy 5 
slave ; he will hardly allow himself cloaths and board- 
wages : 

Uncialim vix de demenso suo, 
Suum defraudans genium, comparsit miser. 

He defrauds not only other men, but his own genius ; 10 
he cheats himself for money. But the servile and 
miserable condition of this wretch is so apparent, that 
I leave it, as evident to every man's sight, as well as 
judgment. 

It seems a more difficult work to prove that the 15 
voluptuous man, too, is but a servant : what can be 
more the life of a freeman, or, as we say ordinarily, of 
a gentleman, than to follow nothing but his own plea- 
sures ? Why, I'll tell you who is that true freeman, and 
that true gentleman ; not he who blindly follows all 20 
his pleasures (the very name of followers is servile) ; but 
he who rationally guides them, and is not hindred by 
outward impediments in the conduct and enjoyment of 
them. If I want skill or force to restrain the beast that 
I ride upon, though I bought it, and call it my own ; 25 
yet, in the truth of the matter, I am at that time rather 
his man, than he my horse. The voluptuous men 
(whom we are fallen upon) may be divided, I think, 
into the lustful and luxurious, who are both servants of 
the belly ; and other, whom we spoke of before, the am- 30 
bitious and the covetous, were KaKo. O-qpia, evil wild 
beasts; these are yao-rcpcs dpyal, sloiv bellies, as our 
translation renders it, but the word apyai (which is a 
fantastical word, with two directly opposite significations) 



76 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

will bear as well the translation of ^ukk or diligent 
bellies ; and both interpretations may be applied to these 
men. Metrodorus said that he had learnt irXiov d\r]0(j)<; 
yaa-Tpl xapt'Cccr^at, to give his belly just thanks for all 
5 his pleasures. This, by the calumniators of Epicurus his 
philosophy, was objected as one of the most scandalous 
of all their sayings ; which, according to my charitable 
understanding, may admit a very virtuous sense, which 
is, that he thanked his own belly for that moderation, 

lo in the customary appetites of it, which can only give a 
man liberty and happiness in this world. Let this suffice 
at present to be spoken of those great triumviri of the 
world ; the covetous man, who is a mean villain, like 
Lepidus ; the ambitious, who is a brave one, like Octa- 

15 vius ; and the voluptuous, who is a loose and debauched 
one, like Mark Antony : 

Quisnam igitur liber? Sapiens, sibique imperiosus. 

Not Oenomaus, who commits himself wholly to a cha- 
rioteer, that may break his neck : but the man, 

20 Who governs his own course with steady hand, 

Who does himself with soveraign power command ; 
Whom neither death nor poverty does fright, 
Who stands not aukwardly in his own light 
Against the truth : who can, Avhen pleasures knock 

25 Loud at his door, keep from the bolt and lock. 

Who can, though honour at his gate should stay 
In all her masking cloaths, send her away, 
And cry, Be gone, I have no mind to play. 

This, I confess, is a freeman : but it may be said, that 
30 many persons are so shackled by their fortune, that they 
are hindred from enjoyment of that manumission, which 
they have obtained from virtue. I do both understand, 
and in part feel, the weight of this objection : all I can 
answer to it is, that we must get as much liberty as we 
35 can, we must use our utmost endeavours, and, when all 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 77 

that is done, be contented with the length of that line 
which is allow'd us. If you ask me, what condition 
of life I think the most allow'd; I should pitch upon 
that sort of people, whom King James was wont to call 
the happiest of our nation, the men placed in the country 5 
by their fortune above an high-constable, and yet be- 
neath the trouble of a justice of peace ; in a moderate 
plenty, without any just argument for the desire of in- 
creasing it by the care of many relations ; and with so 
much knowledge and love of piety and philosophy (that 10 
is, of the study of God's laws, and of his creatures) as 
may afford him matter enough never to be idle, though 
without business; and never to be melancholy, though 
without sin or vanity. 

I shall conclude this tedious discourse with a prayer 15 
of mine in a copy of Latine verses, of which I remember 
no other part ; and {pour /aire bonne bouche) with some 
other verses upon the same subject : 

" Magne Deus, quod ad has vitse brevis attinet horas, 
Da mihi, da panem libertatemque, nee ultra 20 

Sollicitas effundo preces: si quid datur ultra, 
Accipiam gratus; sin non, contentus abibo." 

For the few hours of life allotted me, 

Give me (great God) but bread and libertie. 

I'll beg no more : if more thou'rt pleas'd to give, 25 

I'll thankfully that overplus receive : 

If beyond this no more be freely sent, 

I'll thank for this, and go away content. 



MARTIAL, LIB. I. EP. 56. 

" Vota tui breviter," &c. 

Well then, Sir, you shall know how far extend 

The prayers and hopes of your poetic friend. 30 



78 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

He does not palaces nor mannors crave, 
Would be no lord, but less a lord would have ; 
The ground he holds, if he his own can call, 
He quarrels not with heaven, because 'tis small 

5 Let gay and toilsome greatness others please, 
He loves of homely Httleness the ease. 
Can any man in guilded rooms attend, 
And his dear hours in humble visits spend ; 
When in the fresh and beauteous fields he may 

lo With various healthful pleasures fill the day? 
If there be man (ye gods !) I ought to hate, 
Dependance and attendance be his fate. 
Still let him busie be, and in a crowd, 
And very much a slave, and very proud : 

15 Thus he perhaps pow'rful and rich may grow ; 
No matter, O ye gods ! that I'll allow : 
But let him peace and freedom never see; 
Let him not love this life, who loves not me. 



MARTIAL, LIB. 11. EP. 53. 

"Vis fieri lil>er?" &c. 
Would you be free? 'Tis your chief wish, you say 

20 Come on ; I'll shew thee, friend, the certain way. 
If to no feasts abroad thou lov'st to go, 
Whilst bount'ous God does bread at home bestow ; 
If thou the goodness of thy cloaths dost prize 
By thine own use, and not by others' eyes ; 

25 If (only safe from weathers) thou can'st dwell 
In a small house,, but a convenient shell; 
If thou, without a sigh, or golden wish, 
Canst look upon thy beech en bowl, and dish ; 
If in thy mind such power and greatness be, 

30 The Persian king's a slave compar'd with thee. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 79 

MARTIAL, LIB. II. EP. 68. 

"Quod te nomine," &c. 

That I do you, with humble bowes no more, 

And danger of my naked head, adore ; 

That I, who, Lord and master, cry'd erewhile. 

Salute you, in a new and diff'rent stile, 

By your own name, a scandal to you now, 5 

Think not that I forget myself and you : 

By loss of all things, by all others sought, 

This freedom, and the freeman's hat is bought. 

A lord and master no man wants, but he 

Who o'er himself has no authority, 10 

Who does for honours and for riches strive. 

And follies, without which lords cannot live. 

If thou from fortune dost no servant crave, 

Believe it, thou no master need'st to have. 

ODE. 

UPON LIBERTY. 
I. 

Freedom with Virtue takes her seat; 15 

Her proper place, her only scene, 

Is in the golden mean, 
She lives not with the poor, nor with the great. 
The wings of those Necessity has dipt, 

And they're in Fortune's Bridewel whipt 20 

To the laborious task of bread ; 
• These are by various tyrants captive led. 
Now wild Ambition with imperious force 
Rides, reins, and spurs them, like th' unruly horse. 

And servile Avarice yokes them now, 25 



8o DISCOUJRSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Like toilsom oxen, to the plow. 
And sometimes Lust, like the misguided light, 
Draws them through all the labyrinths of night. 
If any few among the great there be 
5 From these insulting passions free, 

Yet we ev'n those, too, fetter'd see 
By custom, business, crowds, and formal decencie. 

And wheresoe'er they stay, and wheresoe'er they go, 

Impertinencies round them flow : 
lo These are the small uneasie things 

Which about greatness still are found. 

And rather it molest, than wound : 
Like gnats, which too much heat of summer brings; 
But cares do swarm there, too, and those have stings: 
15 As, when the honey does too open lie, 

A thousand wasps about it flie : 
Nor will the master ev'n to share admit ; 
The master stands aloof, and dares not taste of it. 

2. 

'Tis morning: well; I fain would yet sleep on; 
20 You cannot now; you must be gone 

To court, or to the noisie hall: 
Besides, the rooms without are crowded all; 

The stream of business does begin, 
And a spring-tide of clients is come in. 
25 Ah, cruel guards, which this poor prisoner keep! 
Will they not suffer him to sleep? 
Make an escape ; out at the postern flee. 
And get some blessed hours of liberty: 
With a few friends, and a few dishes dine, 
30 And much of mirth and moderate wine. 

To thy bent mind some relaxation give. 
And steal one day out of thy life, to live. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 8i 

Oh, happy man (he cries) to whom kind heaven 

Has such a freedom always given ! 
Why, mighty madman, what should hinder thee 

From being every day as free? 

3- 
In all the freeborn nations of the air, 5 

Never did bird a spirit so mean and sordid bear, 
As to exchange a native liberty 
Of soaring boldly up into the sky. 
His liberty to sing, to perch, or fly, 

When, and wherever he thought good, 10 

And all his innocent pleasures of the wood. 
For a more plentiful or constant food. 

Nor ever did ambitious rage 

Make him into a painted cage, 
Or the false forest of a well-hung room, 15 

For honour and preferment, come. 
Now, blessings on you all, ye heroick race, 
Who keep their primitive powers and rights so well, 

Though men and angels fell. 
Of all material lives the highest place 20 

To you is justly given; 

And ways and walks the nearest heaven. 
W^hilst wretched we, yet vain and proud, think fit 

To boast, that we look up to it. 
Ev'n to the universal tyrant, Love, 25 

You homage pay but once a year : 
None so degenerous and unbirdly prove. 

As his perpetual yoke to bear. 
None, but a few unhappy household fowl, 

Whom human lordship does controulj 30 

Who from the birth corrupted were 
By bondage, and by man's example here. 

L. c. 6 



82 niSCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

4. 

He's no small prince, who every day 

Thus to himself can say ; 
Now will I sleep, now eat, now sit, now walk, 
Now meditate alone, now with acquaintance talk. 
5 This I will do, here I will stay. 
Or, if my fancy calleth me away, 
My man and I will presently go ride ; 
(For we, before, have nothing to provide, 
Nor, after, are to render an account) 
10 To Dover, Berwick, or the Cornish mount. 

If thou but a short journey take. 

As if thy last thou wert to make. 
Business must be despatch'd, ere thou canst part, 

Nor canst thou stir, unless there be 
15 A hundred horse and men to wait on thee, 

And many a mule, and many a cart; 

What an unwieldy man thou art! 

The Rhodian Colossus so 

A journey, too, might go. 

5- 

20 Where honour, or where conscience, does not bind, 
No other law shall shackle me; 
Slave to myself I will not be. 
Nor shall my future actions be confin'd 
By my own present mind. 

25 Who by resolves and vows engag'd does stand 
For days, that yet belong to fate. 
Does, like an unthrift, mortgage his estate, 
Before it falls into his hand : 
The bondman of the cloister so 

30 All that he does receive, does always owe ; 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 83 

And still, as time comes in, it goes away 

Not to enjoy, but debts to pay. 
Unhappy slave, and pupil to a bell, 
Which his hour's work, as well as hours, does tell ! 
Unhappy, till the last, the kind releasing knell. 5 

6. 

If life should a well-order'd poem be 

(In which he only hits the white 
Who joyns true profit with the best delight) 
The more heroick strain let others take, 

Mine the Pindaric way I'll make ; 10 

The matter shall be grave, the numbers loose and free. 
It shall not keep one settled pace of time. 
In the same tune it shall not always chime. 
Nor shall each day just to his neighbour rhime; 
A thousand liberties it shall dispense, 15 

And yet shall manage all without offence 
Or to the sweetness of the sound, or greatness of the sense; 
Nor shall it never from one subject start, 

Nor seek transitions to depart, 
Nor its set way o'er stiles and bridges make, 20 

Nor thorough lanes a compass take. 
As if it fear'd some trespass to commit, 

When the wide air's a road for it. 
So the imperial eagle does not stay 

Till the whole carkass he devour, 25 

That's fallen into its power: 
As if his generous hunger understood 
That he can never want plenty of food. 

He only sucks the tastful blood; 
And to fresh game flies cheerfully away ; 30 

To kites and meaner birds, he leaves the mangled prey. 

• 6 — 2 



84 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 




II. 



OF SOLITUDE. 

[QNQUAM minus solus, quam cum solus/' 
is now become a very vulgar saying. Every 
man, and almost every boy, for these seven- 
teen hundred years, has had it in his mouth. 

5 But it was at first spoken by the excellent Scipio, who 
was without question a most eloquent and witty person, 
as well as the most wise, most worthy, most happy, and 
the greatest of all mankind. His meaning, no doubt, 
was this, that he found more satisfaction to his mind, 

lo and more improvement of it, by solitude than by com- 
pany; and, to shew that he spoke not this loosly, or 
out of vanity, after he had made Rome mistress of 
almost the whole world, he retired himself from it by a 
voluntary exile, and at a private house in the middle of 

15 a wood near Linternum, passed the remainder of his 
glorious life no less gloriously. This house Seneca 
went to see so long after with great veneration; and, 
among other thmgs, describes his baths to have been 
of so mean a structure, that now, says he, the basest 

20 of the people would despise them, and cry out, " Poor 
Scipio understood not how to live." What an authority 
is here for the credit of retreat ! and happy had it been 
for Hannibal, if adversity could have taught him as 



TN VERSE AND PROSE. 85 

much wisdom as was learnt by Scipio from the highest 
prosperities. This would be no wonder, if it were as 
truly as it is colourably and wittily said by Monsieur 
de Montaigne, "that ambition itself might teach us to 
love solitude ; there's nothing does so much hate to 5 
have companions." 'Tis true, it loves to have its 
elbows free, it detests to have company on either side ; 
but it delights above all things in a train behind, aye, 
and ushers too before it. But the greatest part of men 
are so far from the opinion of that noble Roman, that, 10 
if they chance at any time to be without company, they're 
like a becalmed ship ; they never move but by the 
wind of other men's breath, and have no oars of their 
own to steer withal. It is very fantastical and contra- 
dictory in humane nature, that men should love them- 15 
selves above all the rest of the world, and yet never 
endure to be with themselves. When they are in love with 
a mistress, all other persons are importunate and burden- 
some to them. " Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam 
lubens," they would live and die with her alone. 20 

" Sic ego secretis possum bene vivere silvis, 

Qua nulla humano sit via trita pede. 
Tu mihi curarum requies, tu nocte vel atra 

Lumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis." 

With thee for ever I in woods could rest, 25 

Where never human foot the ground has prest. 
Thou from all shades the darkness canst exclude, 
And from a desart banish solitude. 

And yet our dear self is so wearisome to us, that we 
can scarcely support its conversation for an hour to- 30 
gether. This is such an odd temper of mind, as Catullus 
expresses towards one of his mistresses, whom we may 
suppose to have been of a very unsociable humour, 
" Odi, et amo : quare id faciam fortasse requiris. 
Nescio ; sed fieri sentio, et excrucior." oc 



86 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

I hate, and yet I love thee too ; 
How can that be? I know not how; 
Only that so it is I know, 
And feel with torment that 'tis so. 

5 It is a deplorable condition, this, and drives a man 
sometimes to pitiful shifts in seeking how to avoid 
himself. 

The truth of the matter is, that neither he who is a 
fop in the world, is a fit man to be alone ; nor he who 

lo has set his heart much upon the world, though he have 
never so much understanding ; so that solitude can be 
well fitted and sit right, but upon a very few persons. 
They must have enough knowledge of the world to see 
the vanity of it, and enough virtue to despise all vanity ; 

15 if the mind be possessed with any lust or passions, a man 
had better be in a fair, than in a wood alone. They 
may, like petty thieves, cheat us perhaps, and pick our 
pockets, in the midst of company; but, like robbers, 
they use to strip and bind, or murder us, when they 

20 catcli us alone. This is but to retreat from men, and to 
fall into the hands of devils. 'Tis like the punishment 
of parricides among the Romans, to be sewed into a bag, 
with an ape, a dog, and a serpent. 

The first work, therefore, that a man must do, to 

25 make himself capable of the good of solitude, is, the 
very eradication of all lusts ; for how is it possible for 
a man to enjoy himself, while his affections are tyed to 
things without himself.^ In the second place, he must 
learn the art, and get the habit of thinking ; for this, too, 

30 no less than well speaking, depends upon much practice; 
and cogitation is the thing which distinguishes the soli- 
tude of a God from a wild beast. Now, because the 
soul of man is not, by its own nature or observation, 
furnisht with sufficient materials to work upon, it is 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 87 

necessary for it to have continual recourse to learning 
and books for fresh supplies, so that the solitary life will 
grow indigent, and be ready to starve, without them; 
but if once we be thoroughly engaged in the love of 
letters, instead of being wearied with the length of any 5 
day, we shall only complain of the shortness of our whole 
life. 

"O vita, stulto longa, sapienti brevis !" 
O life, long to the fool, short to the wise! 

The first minister of state has not so much business 10 
in publick, as a wise man has in private : if the one have 
little leasure to be alone, the other has less leasure to be 
in company; the one has but part of the affairs of one 
nation, the other all the works of God and nature, under 
his consideration. There is no saying shocks me so 15 
much as that which I hear very often, that a man does 
not know how to pass his time. 'Twould have been but 
ill spoken by Methusalem in the nine hundred sixty- 
ninth year of his life ; so far it is from us, who have not 
time enough to attain to the utmost perfection of any 20 
part of any science, to have cause to complain that we 
are forced to be idle for want of work. But this, you'll 
say, is work only for the learned ; others are not capable 
either • of the employments or divertisements that arrive 
from letters. I know they are not ; and, therefore, can- 25 
not much recommend solitude to a man totally iUiterate. 
But, if any man be so unlearned, as to want entertain- 
ment of the little intervals of accidental soHtude, which 
frequently occur in almost all conditions (except the 
very meanest of the people, who have business enough 30 
in the necessary provisions for life), it is truly a great 
shame both to his parents and himself; for a very small 
portion of any ingenious art will stop up all those gaps 
of our time : either musick, or painting, or designing. 



88 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

or chymistry, or history, or gardening, or twenty other 
things, will do it usefully and pleasantly; and, if he 
happen to set his affections upon poetry (which I do not 
advise him to immoderately), that will over-do it ; no 
5 wood will be thick enough to hide him from the impor- 
tunities of company or business, which would abstract 
him from his beloved. 

'' O qui me gelidis in vallibus Hcemi 

Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra ? " 

I. 

lo Hail, old patrician trees, so great and good ! 
Hail, ye plebeian under-wood ! 
Where the poetick birds rejoyce, 
And for their quiet nests and plenteous food 
Pay with their grateful voice. 

2. 

15 Hail, the poor Muses' richest mannor-seat ! 
Ye country houses and retreat, 
Which all the happy gods so love, 
That for you oft they quit their bright and great 
Metropolis above. 

3- 
20 Here Nature does a house for me erect, 
Nature, the wisest architect, 
Who those fond artists does despise 
That can the fair and Hving trees neglect ; 
Yet the dead timber prize. 

4- 
25 Here let me, careless and unthoughtful lying. 
Hear the soft winds, above me flying, 
With all their wanton boughs dispute. 
And the more taneful birds to both replying, 
Nor be myself too mute. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 89 

5- 
A silver stream shall roul his waters near, 

Gilt Avith sun-beams here and there, 

On whose enamel'd bank I'll walk, 
And see how prettily they smile, and hear 

How prettily they talk. 5 

6. 

Ah wretched, and too solitary he, 

Who loves not his own companie ! 

He'll feel the weight oft many a day, 
Unless he call in sin or vanitie 

To help to bear't away. 10 

7. 
O Solitude, first state of human-kind ! 

Which blest remain'd, till man did find 

Ev'n his own helper's companie. 
As soon as two (alas !) together joyn'd, 

The serpent made up three. 15 

8. 

Though God himself, through countless ages, thee 

His sole companion chose to be, 

Thee, sacred Solitude, alone. 
Before the branchy head of number's tree 

Sprang from the trunk of one. 20 

9- 

Thou (though men think thine an unactive part) 
Dost break and tame th' unruly heart, 
Which else would know no setled pace, 

Making it move, well manag'd by thy art, 

With swiftness and with grace. 25 



90 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

lO. 

Thou the faint beams of reason's scatter'd light 
Dost, like a burning glass, unite, 
Dost multiply the feeble heat, 

And fortify the strength, till thou dost bright 
5 And noble fires beget. 

II. 

Whilst this hard truth T teach, methinks I see 
The monster London laugh at me; 
I should at thee too, foolish city, 
If it were fit to laugh at misery ; 
lo But thy estate I pity. 

12. 

Let but thy wicked men fi'om out thee go, 
And all the fools that crowd thee so, 
Even thou, who dost thy millions boast, 

A village less than IsHngton wilt grow. 
15 A solitude almost. 



IN VERSE AND FROSE. 91 



III. 

OF OBSCURITY. 

"Nam neque divitibus contingunt gaudia solis ; 
"Nee vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit." 

God made not pleasures only for the rich ; 

Nor have those men without their share too liv'd, 

Who both in life and death the world deceiv'd. 




[HIS seems a strange sentence, thus litterally 
translated, and looks as if it were in vindi- 
cation of the men of business (for who else 
I can deceive the world?) whereas it is in 
commendation of those who live and die so obscurely, 10 
that the world takes no notice of them. This Horace 
calls deceiving the world ; and in another place uses the 
same phrase, 

" Secretum iter et fallentis semita vitoe." 

The secret tracks of the deceiving life. 15 

It is very elegant in Latine, but our English word will 
hardly bear up to that sense ; and therefore Mr Broom 
translates it very well — 

Or from a life, led, as it were, by stealth. 

Yet we say, in our language, a thing deceives our sight, 20 

when it passes before us unperceived : and we may say 

well enough, out of the same author, 

Sometimes with sleep, sometimes with wine, we strive 
The cares of life and troubles to deceive. 



92 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

But that is not to deceive the world, but to deceive our- 
selves, as Quintiliaii says, "vitam fallere," to draw on 
still, and amuse, and deceive our life, till it be advanced 
insensibly to the fatal period, and fall into that pit which 
5 nature hath prepared for it. The meaning of all this is 
no more than that most vulgar saying, "Bene qui latuit, 
bene vixit," he has lived well, who has lain well hidden. 
Which, if it be a truth, the world (I will swear) is 
sufficiently deceived : for my part, I think it is, and that 

lo the pleasantest condition of life is in mcognito. What a 
brave priviledge is it, to be free from all contentions, 
from all envying or being envied, from receiving or 
paying all kind of ceremonies ! It is, in my mind, a very 
delightful pastime, for two good and agreable friends to 

15 travel up and down together, in places where they are 
by nobody known, nor know anybody. It was the case 
of ^neas and his Achates, when they walked invisibly 
about the fields and streets of Carthage ; Venus herself 

A vail of thicken'd air around them cast, 
20 That none might know, or see them, as they past. 

The common story of Demosthenes' confession, that he 
had taken great pleasure in hearing of a tanker-woman 
say, as he past, "This is that Demosthenes," is wonderful 
ridiculous from so solid an orator. I myself have often 

25 met with that temptation to vanity (if it were any); but 
am so far from finding it any pleasure, that it only makes 
me run faster from the place, till I get, as it were, out of 
sight-shot. Democritus relates, and in such a manner 
as if he gloried in the good fortune and commodity of 

30 it, that, when he came to Athens, nobody there did so 
much as take notice of him ; and Epicurus lived there 
very well, that is, lay hid many years in his gardens, so 
famous since that time, with his friend Metrodorus : 
after whose death, making in one of his letters a kind 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 93 

commemoration of the happiness which they two had 
enjoyed together, he adds at last, that he thought it no 
disparagement to those great feHcities of their Hfe, that, 
in the midst of the most talk'd-of and talking country in 
the world, they had lived so long, not only without fame, 5 
but almost without being heard of. And yet, within a 
very few years afterward, there w^ere no two names of 
men more known, or more generally celebrated. If we 
engage into a large acquaintance and various familiarities, 
we set open our gates to the invaders of most of our 10 
time : we expose our life to a quotidian ague of frigid 
impertinences, which would make a wise man tremble to 
think of. Now, as for being known much by sight, and 
pointed at, I cannot comprehend the honour that lies 
in that : whatsoever it be, every mountebank has it more 15 
than the best doctor, and the hangman more than the 
lord chief justice of a city. Every creature has it, both 
of nature and art, if it be any ways extraordinary. It 
was as often said, "This is that Bucephalus," or, "This 
is that Incitatus," when they were led prancing through 20 
the streets, as "This is that Alexander," or, "This is that 
Domitian ;" and truly, for the latter, I take Incitatus to 
have been a much more honourable beast than his 
master, and more deserving the consulship, than he the 
empire. 25 

I love and commend a true good fame, because it is 
the shadow of virtue ; not that it doth any good to the 
body which it accompanies, but 'tis an efficacious shadow, 
and, like that of S. Peter, cures the diseases of others. 
The best kind of glory, no doubt, is that which is re- 30 
fleeted from honesty, such as was the glory of Cato and 
Aristides ; but it was harmful to them both, and is seldom 
beneficial to any man, whilest he lives : what it is to 
him after his death, I cannot say, because I love not 



94 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

philosophy meerly notional and conjectural, and no man 
who has made the experiment has been so kind as to 
come back to inform us. Upon the whole matter, I 
account a person who has a moderate mind and fortune, 

5 and lives in the conversation of two or three agreeable 
friends, with little commerce in the world besides, who 
is esteemed well enough by his few neighbours that know 
him, and is truly irreproachable by any body; and so, 
after a healthful quiet life, before the great inconveniences 

lo of old age, goes more silently out of it than he came in 
(for I would not have him so much as cry in the exit) : 
this innocent deceiver of the world, as Horace calls him, 
this "muta persona," I take to have been more happy in 
his part, than the greatest actors that fill the stage with 

15 show and noise, nay, even than Augustus himself, who 
askt with his last breath, whether he had not played his 
farce very well. 



Seneca, ex Thyeste, Act. II. Chor. 

" Stet, quicunque volet potens 
Aulae culmine lubrico," &c. 

20 Upon the slippery tops of humane state. 

The guilded pinnacles of fate, 
Let others proudly stand, and, for a while 

The giddy danger to beguile, 
With joy, and with disdain, look down on all, 
25 Till their heads turn, and down they fall. 

Me, O ye gods, on earth, or else so near 

That I no fall to earth may fear, 
And, O ye gods, at a good distance seat 
From the long ruins of the great. 
30 Here wrapt in th' arms of quiet let me lye; 

Quiet, companion of obscurity. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 95 

Here let my life with as much silence slide, 

As time, that measures it, does glide. 
Nor let the breath of infamy or fame. 
From town to town echo about my name. 
Nor let my homely death embroidered be 5 

With scutcheon or with elogie. 

An old plebeian let me die, 
Alas, all then are such as well as I. 

To him, alas, to him, I fear. 
The face of death will terrible appear, 10 

Who, in his life flattering his senseless pride. 
By being known to all the world beside. 
Does not himself, when he is dying, know, 
Nor what he is, nor whither he's to go. 



96 DISCO UJ^SES BY WAY OF ESSAYS. 




IV. 



OF AGRICULTURE. 

|HE first wish of Virgil (as you will find anon 
by his verses) was to be a good philosopher ; 
the second, a good husbandman : and God 
3^ (whom he seem'd to understand better than 
5 most of the most learned heathens) dealt with him, just 
as he did with Solomon ; because he prayed for wisdom 
in the first place, he added all things else, which were 
subordinately to be desir'd. He made him one of the 
best philosophers and the best husbandmen; and, to 
lo adorn and communicate both those faculties, the best 
poet. He made him, besides all this, a rich man, and a 
man who desired to be no richer — 

"O fortunatus nimium, et bona qui sua novit!" 

To be a husbandman, is but a retreat from the city ; to 
15 be a philosopher, from the world ; or rather, a retreat 

from the world, as it is man's, into the world, as it is 

God's. 

But, since nature denies to most men the capacity or 

appetite, and fortune allows but to a very few the 
20 opportunites or possibility of applying themselves wholly 

to philosophy, the best mixture of humane affairs that we 

can make, are the employments of a country life. It is. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 97 

as Columella calls it, " Res sine dubitatione proxima, et 
quasi consanguinea sapientise," the nearest neighbour, 
or rather next in kindred, to philosophy. Varro says, 
the principles of it are the same which Ennius made to 
be the principles of all nature, Earth, Water, Air, and 5 
the Sun. It does certainly comprehend more parts of 
philosophy, than any one profession, art, or science, in 
the world besides : and therefore Cicero says, the 
pleasures of a husbandman, "mihi ad sapientis vitam ^ 
proxime videntur accedere," come very nigh to those 10 
of a philosopher. There is no other sort of Hfe that 
affords so many branches of praise to a panegyrist : the 
utility of it, to a man's self; the usefulness, or rather 
necessity, of it to all the rest of mankind \ the innocence, 
the pleasure, the antiquity, the dignity. 15 

The utihty (I mean plainly the lucre of it) is not so 
great, now in our nation, as arises from merchandise and 
the trading of the city, from whence many of the best 
estates and chief honours of the kingdom are derived : 
we have no men now fetcht from the plow to be 20 
made lords, as they were in Rome to be made consuls 
and dictators; the reason of which I conceive to be 
from an evil custom, now grown as strong among us as 
if it were a law, which is, that no men put their children 
to be bred up apprentices in agriculture, as in other 25 
trades, but such who are so poor, that, when they come 
to be men, they have not where-withal to set up in it, 
and so can only farm some small parcel of ground, the 
rent of which devours all but the bare subsistence of 
the tenant : whilst they who are proprietors of the land 30 
are either too proud, or, for want of that kind of educa- 
tion, too ignorant, to improve their estates, though the 
means of doing it be as easie and certain in this, as in 
any other track of commerce. If there were always two 
L. c. 7 



98 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

or three thousand youths, for seven or eight years, 
bound to this profession, that they might learn the 
whole art of it, and afterwards be enabled to be masters 
in it, by a moderate stock, I cannot doubt but that we 

5 should see as many aldermen's estates made in the 
country, as now we do out of all kind of merchandizing 
in the city. There are as many ways to be rich, and, 
which is better, there is no possibility to be poor, with- 
out such negligence as can neither have excuse nor 

lo pity ; for a little ground will, without question, feed a 
little family, and the superfluities of life (which are now 
in some cases by custom made almost necessary) must 
be supplyed out of the superabundance of art and 
industry, or contemned by as great a degree of phi- 

15 losophy. 

As for the necessity of this art, it is evident enough, 
since this can live without all others, and no one other 
without this. This is Hke speech, without which the 
society of men cannot be preserved ; the others, like 

20 figures and tropes of speech, which serve only to adorn 
it. Many nations have lived, and some do still, without 
any art but this : not so elegantly, I confess, but still 
they Hve ; and almost all the other arts, which are here 
practised, are beholding to this for most of their materials. 

25 The innocence of this hfe is the next thing for which 
I commend it ; and if husbandmen preserve not that, 
they are much to blame, for no men are so free from 
the temptations of iniquity. They live by what they can 
get by industry from the earth ; and others, by what 

30 they can catch by craft from men. They live upon an 
estate given them by their mother ; and others, upon an 
estate cheated from their brethren. They live, like 
sheep and kine, by the allowances of nature ; and others, 
like wolves and foxes, by the acquisitions of rapine. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 99 

And, 1 hope, I may affirm (without any offence to the 
great) that sheep and kine are very useful, and that 
vrolves and foxes are pernicious creatures. They are, 
without dispute, of all men, the most quiet and least apt 
to be inflamed to the disturbance of the commonwealth : 5 
their manner of life inclines them, and interest binds 
them, to love peace : in our late mad and miserable 
civil wars, all other trades, even to the meanest, set 
forth whole troops, and raised up some great com- 
manders, who became famous and mighty for the mis- 10 
chiefs they had done : but I do not remember the name 
of any one husbandman, who had so considerable a share 
in the twenty years' ruine of his country, as to deserve 
the curses of his countrymen. 

And if great delights be joyn'd with so much inno- 15 
cence, I think it is ill done of men, not to take them 
here, where tliey are so tame, and ready at hand, rather 
than hunt for them in courts and cities, where they are 
so wild, and the chase so troublesome and dangerous. 

We are here among the vast and noble scenes of 20 
nature; we are there among the pitiful shifts of policy : 
we walk here in the light and open ways of the divine 
bounty; we grope there in the dark and confused 
labyrinths of humane malice : our senses are here feasted 
with the clear and genuine taste of their objects, which 25 
are all sophisticated there, and for the most part over- 
whelmed with their contraries. Here, pleasure looks 
(methinks) like a beautiful, constant, and modest wife; 
it is there an impudent, fickle, and paintQd harlot. 
Here, is harmless and cheap plenty ; there, guilty and 30 
expenceful luxury. 

I shall only instance in one delight more, the most 
natural and best-natured of all others, a perpetual 
companion of the husbandman ; and tliat is, the satisfac- 



loo DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

tion of looking round about him, and seeing nothing but 

the effects and improvements of his own art and 

diHgence ; to be always gathering of some fruits of it, 

and at the same time to behold others ripening, and 

5 others budding : to see all his fields and gardens covered 

with the beauteous creatures of his own industry ; and 

to see, like God, tliat all his works are good : — 

Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Orcades; ipsi 

Agricolse taciturn pertentant gaudia pectus. 

lo On his heart-string a secret joy does strike. 

The antiquity of his art is certainly not to be con- 
tested by any other. The three first men in the world, 
were a gardener, a plowman, and a grazier; and if 
any man object, that the second of these was a murtherer, 

15 I desire he would consider, that as soon as he was so, he 
quitted our profession, and turn'd builder. It is for 
this reason, I suppose, that Ecclesiasticus forbids us to 
hate husbandry ; ' because (says he) the Most High has 
created it.' We were all born to this art, and taught by 

20 nature to nourish our bodies by the same earth out of 
which they were made, and to which they must return, 
and pay at last for their sustenance. 

Behold the original and primitive nobility of all those 
great persons, who are too proud now, not only to till 

25 the ground, but almost to tread upon it. We may talk 
what we please of liUies, and lions rampant, and spread- 
eagles, in fields {i'or or d'argent; but, if heraldry were 
guided by reason, a plough in a field arable would be 
the most noble and antient arms. 

30 All these considerations make me fall into the wonder 
and complaint of Columella, how it should come to 
pass that all arts or sciences (for the dispute, which is 
an art, and which a science, does not belong to the curi- 
osity of us husbandmen,) metaphysick, physick, morality, 



JN VERSE AND PROSE. loi 

mathematicks, logick, rhetorick &c. which are all, I grant, 
good and useful faculties, (except only metaphysick 
which 1 do not know whether it be anything or no ;) 
but even vaulting, fencing, dancing, attiring, cookery, 
carving, and such like vanities, should all have publick 5 
schools and masters, and yet that we should never see 
or hear of any man, who took upon him the profession of 
teaching this so pleasant, so virtuous, so profitable, so 
honourable, so necessary art. 

A man would think, when he's in serious humour, 10 
that it were but a vain, irrational, and ridiculous thing, 
for a great company of men and women to run up and 
down in a room together, in a hundred several postures 
and figures, to no purpose, and with no design ; and 
therefore dancing was invented first, and only practised 15 
antiently, in the ceremonies of the heathen religion, 
which consisted all in mummery and madness; the latter 
being the chief glory of the worship, and accounted 
divine inspiration : this, I say, a severe man would 
think ; though I dare not determine so far against so 20 
customary a part, now, of good-breeding. And yet, who 
is there among our gentry, that does not entertain a 
dancing-master for his children, as soon as they are able 
to walk ? But did ever any father provide a tutor for his 
son, to instruct him betimes in the nature and improve- 25 
ments of that land which he intended to leave him ? 
That is at least a superfluity, and this a defect, in our 
manner of education ; and therefore I could wish (but 
cannot in these times much hope to see it) that one col- 
ledge in each university were erected, and appropriated 30 
to this study, as well as there are to medicine and the 
civil law : there would be no need of making a body of 
scholars and fellows, with certain endowments, as in 
other coUedges ; it would suffice, if, after the manner of 



102 DISCOUJ^SES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

halls in Oxford, there were only four professors consti- 
tuted (for it would be too much work for only one 
master, or principal, as they call him there) to teach 
these four parts of it : First, Aration, and all things re- 

5 lating to it. Secondly, Pasturage. Thirdly, Gardens, 
Orchards, Vineyards, and Woods. Fourthly, all parts 
of Rural Oeconomy, which would contain the government 
of Bees, Swine, Poultry, Decoys, Ponds, &c. and all that 
which Varro calls villaticas pasfioncs, together with the 

lo sports of the field (which ought to be looked upon not 
only as pleasures, but as parts of house-keeping), and 
the domestical conservation and uses of all that is 
brought in by industry abroad. The business of these 
professors should not be, as is commonly practised in 

15 other arts, only to read pompous and superficial lectures, 
out of Virgil's Georgicks, Pliny, Varro, or Columella ; 
but to instruct their pupils in the whole method and 
course of this study, which might be run through per- 
haps, with diligence, in a year or two : and the con- 

20 tinual succession of scholars, upon a moderate taxation 
for their diet, lodging, and learning, would be a suffi- 
cient constant revenue for maintenance of the house and 
the professors, who should be men not chosen for the 
ostentation of critical literature, but for solid and expe- 

25 rimental knowledge of the things they teach ; such men, 
so industrious and publick-spirited, as I conceive Mr. 
Hartlib to be, if the gentleman be yet alive : but it is 
needless to speak further of my thoughts of this design, 
unless the present disposition of the age allowed more 

30 probability of bringing it into execution. What I have 
further to say of the country life, shall be borrowed 
from the poets, who were always the most faithful and 
affectionate friends to it. Poetry was born among the 
shepherds. 



TN VERSE AND PROSE. 103 

Ncscio qua natale solum dulcedinc Mubas 
Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui. 

The Muses still love their own native place ; 
'T has secret charms, which nothing can deface. 

The truth is, no other place is proper for their work ; 5 
one might as well undertake to dance in a crowd, as to 
make good verses in the midst of noise and tumult. 

As well might corn, as verse, in cities grow ; 

In vain the thankless glebe we plow and sovr ; 

Against th' unnatural soil in vain we strive ; 10 

'Tis not a ground, in which these plants will thrive. 

It will bear nothing but the nettles or thorns of satyre, 
which grow most naturally in the worst earth ; and 
therefore almost all poets, except those who were not 
able to eat bread without the bounty of great men, that 15 
is, without what they could get by flattering of them, 
have not only withdrawn themselves from the vices and 
vanities of the grand world, 



pariter vitiisque jocisque 

Altius humanis exeruere caput, 20 

into the innocent happiness of a retired life ; but have 
commended and adorned nothing so much by their ever- 
living poems. Hesiod was the first or second poet in 
the world that remains yet extant (if Homer, as some 
think, preceded him, but I rather believe they were 25 
contemporaries) ; and he is the first writer too of the 
art of husbandry : " he has contributed (says Columella) 
not a little to our profession ; " I suppose, he means not 
a little honour, for the matter of his instructions is not 
very important : his great antiquity is visible through 30 
the gravity and simplicity of his stile. The most acute 
of all his sayings concerns our purpose very much, and 
is couched in the reverend obscurity of an oracle. nXeW 
ly/xio-u 7rai/To9, The half is more than the whole. The 



I04 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

occasion of the speech is this ; his brother Perses had, 
by corrupting some great men (l3a(rLX^a<s Swpocjxiyovs, 
great bribe-eaters he calls them), gotten from him the 
half of his estate. It is no matter (says he) ; they have 
5 not done me so much prejudice, as they imagine. 

NT^TTtoi, ovS^ iaaaLV oao: irXeop rnjnav iravros, 

Oi}5' oTov ev /xaXaxv "^^ '<^<^' acr^oSeXo^ fxey' o^eiap, 

Kpv\f/auTes yap exovac deol ^iov avOpcoiroLai. 

Unhappy they, to whom God ha'n't reveal'd, 
lO By a strong light which must their sense controul, 

That half a great estate's more than the whole. 
Unhappy, from whom still conceal'd does lye. 
Of roots and herbs, the wholesom luxury. 

This I conceive to be honest Hesiod's meaning. From 

15 Homer, we must not expect much concerning our affairs. 
He was blind, and could neither work in the country, 
nor enjoy the pleasures of it ; his helpless poverty was 
likeliest to be sustained in the richest places; he was to 
delight the Grecians with fine tales of the wars and ad- 

20 ventures of their ancestors ; his subject removed him 
from all commerce with us, and yet, methinks, he made 
a shift to shew his good-will a little. For, though he 
could do us no honour in the person of his hero Ulysses 
(much less of Achilles), because his whole time was con- 

25 sumed in wars and voyages ; yet he makes his father 
Laertes a gardener all that while, and seeking his con- 
solation for the absence of his son in the pleasure of 
planting, and even dunging his own grounds. Ye see, 
he did not contemn us peasants ; nay, so far was he 

30 from that insolence, that he always stiles Eumaeus, who 
kept the hogs, with wonderful respect, Slov vcjiopfSov, the 
divine swine herd ; he could ha' done no more for 
Menelaus or Agamemnon. And Theocritus (a very 
antient poet, but he was one of our own tribe, for he 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 105 

wrote nothing but pastorals) gave the same epithete to 
an husbandman, 

— y]lxei^€To 8io<s ayp(ii(TTrj<;. 
The divine husbandman replyed to Hercules, who was 
but Stos himself. These were civil Greeks, and who 5 
understood the dignity of our calling ! Among the 
Romans we have, in the first place, our truly divine 
Virgil, who, though, by the favour of Mciecenas and 
Augustus, he might have been one of the chief men of 
Rome, yet chose rather to employ much of his time in 10 
the exercise, and much of his immortal wit in the praise 
and instructions, of a rustique life ; who, though he had 
written, before, whole books of pastorals and georgics, 
could not abstain, in his great and imperial poem, from 
describing Evander, one of his best princes, as living 15 
just after the homely manner of an ordinary country- 
man. He seats him in a throne of maple, and lays him 
but upon a bear's skin ; the kine and oxen are lowing 
in his court-yard ; the birds under the eves of his 
window call him up in the morning ; and when he goes 20 
abroad, only two dogs go along with him for his guard: 
at last, when he brings ^neas into his royal cottage, he 
makes him say this memorable complement, greater than 
ever yet was spoken at the Escarial, the Louvre, or our 
Whitehal : 25 

— Usee (inquit) limina victor 
Alcides subiit, haec ilium regia cepit : 
Aude, hospes, contemnere opes : et te quoque dignum 
Finge Deo, rebusque veni non asper egenis. 

This humble roof, this rustick court, (said lie) 30 

Receiv'd Alcides, ciown'd with victorie : 

Scorn not, great guest, the steps where he has trod ; 

But contemn wealth, and imitate a God. 

The next man, whom we are much obliged to, both 



io6 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

for his doctrine and example, is the next best poet in 
the world to Virgil, his dear friend Horace ; who, when 
Augustus had desired Maecenas to perswade him to come 
and live domestically and at the same table with him, 

5 and to be secretary of state of the whole world under 
him, or rather jointly with him, for he says, "ut nos in 
epistolis scribendis adjuvet," could not be tempted to 
forsake his Sabin, or Tiburtin mannor, for so rich and 
so glorious a trouble. There was never, I think, such 

lo an example as this in the world, that he should have so 
much moderation and courage as to refuse an offer of 
such greatness, and the emperor so much generosity and 
good-nature as not to be at all offended with his refusal, 
but to retain still the same kindness, and express it often 

15 to him in most friendly and familiar letters, part of which 
are still extant. If I should produce all the passages of 
this excellent author upon the several subjects which I 
treat of in this book, I must be obliged to translate half 
his works ; of which I may say more truly than, in my 

20 opinion, he did of Homer, 

Qui, quid sit pulcbrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non, 
Planius et melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit. 

I shall content myself upon this particular theme 
with three only, one out of his Odes, the other out of 

25 his Satires, the third out of his Epistles ; and shall for- 
bear to collect the suffrages of all other poets, which 
may be found scattered up and down through all their 
writings, and especially in Martial's. But I must not 
omit to make some excuse for the bold undertaking of 

30 my own unskilful pencil upon the beauties of a face 
that has been drawn before by so many great masters ; 
especially, that I should dare to do it in Latine verses 
(though of another kind), and have the confidence to 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 107 

translate them. 1 can only say that I love the matter, 
and that ought to cover many faults ; and that I run not 
to contend with those before me, but follow to applaud 
them. 



A TRANSLATION OUT OF VIRGIL. 

Georg. Lib. II. 458. 

O forhinatos nimium tSr'tr. 

Oh happy (if his happiness he knows) 5 

The country swain, on whom kind heaven bestows 

At home all riches, that wise nature needs ; 

Whom the just earth with easie plenty feeds. 

'Tis true, no morning tide of clients comes, 

A.nd fills the painted channels of his rooms, 10 

Adoring the rich figures, as they pass, 

In tap'stry wrought, or cut in living brass; 

Nor is his wooll superfluously dy'd 

With the dear poison of Assyrian pride : 

Nor do Arabian perfumes vainly spoil 15 

The native use and sweetness of his oil. 

Instead of these, his calm and harmless life, 

Free from th' allarms of fear, and storms of strife, 

Does with substantial blessedness abound, 

And the soft wings of peace cover him round : 20 

Through artless grots the murm'ring waters glide; 

Thick trees both against heat and cold provide. 

From whence the birds salute him ; and his ground 

With lowing herds, and bleating sheep, does sound; 

And all the rivers, and the forests nigh, 25 

Both food, and game, and exercise, supply. 

Here, a well-hard'ned active youth we see, 

Taught the great art of chearful povertie. 



io8 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Here, in this place alone, there still do shine 
Some streaks of love, both humane and divine; 
From hence Astraea took her flight, and here 
Still her last foot-steps upon earth appear. 

5 'Tis true, the first desire, which does controul 
All the inferior wheels that move my soul, 
Is, that the Muse me her high priest would make. 
Into her holiest scenes of myst'ry take, 
And open there to my mind's purged eye 

lo Those wonders, which to sense the gods deny. 
How in the moon such change of shapes is found; 
The moon, the changing world's eternal bound. 
What shakes the solid earth, what strong disease 
Dares trouble the firm centre's antient ease ; 

15 What makes the sea retreat, and what advance : 
"Varieties too regular for chance." 
What drives the chariot on of winter's light. 
And stops the lazy wagon of the night. 
But, if my dull and frozen blood deny 

20 To send forth th' sp'rits, that raise a soul so high ! 
In the next place, let woods and rivers be 
My quiet, though inglorious, destinie. 
In life's cool vale let my low scene be laid : 
Cover me, gods, with Tempe's thickest shade. 

25 Happy the man, I grant, thrice happy he, 

Who can through gross effects their causes see : 
Whose courage from the deeps of knowledge springs. 
Nor vainly fears inevitable things ; 
But does his walk of virtue calmly go 

30 Through all th' alarms of death and hell below. 
Happy ! but, next such conqu'rors, happy they. 
Whose humble life lies not in fortune's way. 
They, unconcern'd, from their safe distant seat 
Behold the rods and scepters of the great. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 109 

The quarrels of the mighty without fear, 

And the descent of foreign troops they hear. 

Nor can ev'n Rome their steady course misguide, 

With all the lustre of her per'shing pride. 

Them never yet did strife or av'rice draw 5 

Into the noisie markets of the law. 

The camps of gowned war; nor do they live 

By rules or forms, that many madmen give. 

Duty for nature's bounty they repay, 

And her sole laws religiously obey. 10 

Some with bold labour plough the faithless main, 
Some rougher storms in princes' courts sustain. 
Some swell up their slight sails with pop'lar fame, 
Charm'd with the foolish whistlings of a name. 
Some their vain wealth to earth again commit; 15 

With endless cares some brooding o'er it sit. 
Country and friends are by some wretches sold, 
To lie on Tyrian beds, and drink in gold; 
No price too high for profit can be shown; 
Not brother's blood, nor hazards of their own. 20 

Around the world in search of it they roam ; 
It makes ev'n their antipodes their home ; 
Meanwhile, the prudent husbandman is found, 
In mutual duties, striving with his ground. 
And half the year the care of that does take, 25 

That half the year grateful returns does make. 
Each fertile month does some new gifts present. 
And with new work his industry content. 
This, the young lamb, that the soft fleece doth yield; 
This, loads with hay, and that, with corn, the field; 30 
All sorts of fruit crown the rich autumn's pride; 
And on a swelHng hill's warm stony side, 
The pow'rful princely purple of the vine, 
Twice dy'd with the redoubled sun, does shine. 



no -DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

In th' evening to a fair ensuing day, 
With joy he sees his flocks and kids to play; 
And loaded kyne about his cottage stand, 
Inviting with known sound the milker's hand; 

5 And, when from wholsome labour he doth come, 
With wishes to be there, and wish'd for home, 
He meets at door the softest humane blisses, 
His chaste wife's welcome, and dear children's kisses. 
When any rural holidays invite 

lo His genius forth to innocent delight, 

On earth's fair bed, beneath some sacred shade. 
Amidst his equal friends carelessly laid, 
He sings thee, Bacchus, patron of the vine. 
The beechen bowl foams with a flood of wine, 

15 Not to the loss of reason, or of strength : 
To active games and manly sport, at length. 
Their mirth ascends, and with flll'd veins they see, 
Who can the best at better tryals be. 
From such the old Hetrurian virtue rose; 

20 Such was the life the prudent Sabins chose ; 
Such, Remus and the god, his brother, led ; 
From such firm footing Rome grew the world's head. 
Such was the life that, ev'n till now, does raise 
The honour of poor Saturn's golden days. 

25 Before men, born of earth and buried there, 
Let in the sea their mortal fate to share : 
Before new ways of perishing were sought, 
Before unskilful death on anvils wrought : 
Before those beasts, which humane life sustain, 

30 By men, unless to the gods' use, were slain. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. iii 

HOR. EPOD. ODE 11. 

Beatiis ille qui prociil «^--v. 

Happy the man, whom bount'ous gods allow 

With his own hands paternal grounds to plough ! 

Like the first golden mortals happy, he, 

From business and the cares of money free ! 

No human storms break oft', at land, his sleep ; 5 

No loud alarms of nature on the deep : 

From all the cheats of law he lives secure, 

Nor does th'affront of palaces endure ; 

Sometimes, the beaut'ous marriageable vine 

He to the lusty bridegroom elm does joyn ; 10 

Sometimes, he lops the barren trees around, 

And grafts new life into tlie fruitful wound; 

Sometimes, he shears his flock, and, sometimes, he 

Stores up the golden treasures of the bee. 

He sees his lowing herds walk o'er the plain, 15 

Whilst neighb'ring hills low back to them agin 

And when the season, rich as well as gay, 

All her autumnal bounty does display, 

How is he pleas'd th' increasing use to see, 

Of his well-trusted labours, bend the tree 1 20 

Of which large shares, on the glad sacred days, 

He gives to friends, and to the gods repays. 

With how much joy does he, beneath some shade 

By aged trees' rev'rend embraces made, 

His careless head on the fresh green recline, 25 

His head uncharged with fear or with design. 

By him a river constantly complains. 

The birds above rejoyce with various strains. 

And in the solemn scene their orgies keep, 

Like dreams, mixt with the gravity of sleep ; 30 



112 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Sleep, which does always there for entrance wait, 
And nought within against it shuts the gate. 
Nor does the roughest season of the sky. 
Or sullen Jove, all sports to him deny. 

5 He runs the mazes of the nimble hare, 
His well-mouth'd dogs' glad concert rends the air ; 
Or with game bolder, and rewarded more, 
He drives into a toil the foaming bore; 
Here flies the hawk t'assault, and there the net, 

lo To intercept the traveling fowl, is set ; 
And all his malice, all his craft, is shown 
In innocent wars, on beasts and birds alone; 
This is the life from all misfortunes free, 
From thee, the great one, tyrant love, from thee; 

15 And, if a chaste and clean, though homely, wife 
Be added to the blessings of this life. 
Such as the antient sun-burnt Sabins were, 
Such as Apulia, frugal still, does bear, 
Who makes her children and the house her care, 

20 And joyfully the work of life does share, 
Nor thinks herself too noble or too fine 
To pin the sheepfold or to milk the kine. 
Who waits at door against her husband come 
From rural duties, late, and wearied home, 

25 Where she receives him with a kind embrace, 
A chearful fire, and a more chearful face ; 
And fills the bowl up to her homely lord, 
And with domestick plenty loads the board, 
Not all the lustful shell-fish of the sea, 

30 Drest by the wanton hand of luxury. 
Nor ortolans nor godwits, nor the rest 
Of costly names that glorifie a feast. 
Are at the princely tables better cheer, 
Than lamb and kid, lettice and olives, here. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 113 

THE COUNTRY MOUSE. 

A Paraphrase upon Horace, Book II. Sat. VI. 

At the large foot of a fair hollow tree, 

Close to plovv'd ground, seated commodiously, 

His antient and hereditary house, 

There dwelt a good substantial country mouse; 

Frugal, and grave, and careful of the main, 5 

Yet one who once did nobly entertain 

A city mouse, well coated, sleek, and gay, 

A mouse of high degree, which lost his way, 

Wantonly walking forth to tal;e the air. 

And arriv'd early, and belighted there, 10 

For a day's lodging : the good hearty host, 

(The antient plenty of his hall to boast) 

Did all the store produce, that might excite, 

With various tastes, the courtier's appetite. 

Fitches and beans, peason, oats, and wheat, 15 

And a large chesnut, the delicious meat 

Which Jove himself, were he a mouse, would eat. 

And, for a haut gonst, "there was mixt with these 

The swerd of bacon, and the coat of cheese : 

The precious reliques, which, at harvest, he 20 

Had gathered from the reapers' luxurie. 

Freely (said he) fall on, and never spare, 

The bounteous gods will for to-morrow care. 

And thus at ease, on beds of straw, they lay, 

And to their genius sacrific'd the day : 25 

Yet the nice guest's epicurean mind, 

(Though breeding made him civil seem, and kind) 

Despis'd this country feast; and still his thought 

Upon the cakes and pies of London wrought. 

L. c. 8 



114 niSCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Your bounty and civility, (said he) 
Which I'm surpris'd in these rude parts to see, 
Shews that the gods have given you a mind 
Too noble for the fate, which here you find. 

5 Why should a soul, so virt'ous, and so great, 
Lose itself thus in an obscure retreat ? 
Let savage beasts lodge in a country den ; 
You should see towns, and manners know, and men; 
And taste the gen'rous luxury of the court, 

lo Where all the mice of quality resort ; 

Where thousand beaut' ous shes about you move, 
And, by high fare, are plyant made to love. 
We all, ere long, must render up our breath ] 
No cave or hole can shelter us from death. 

IS Since life is so uncertain, and so short, 

Let's spend it all in feasting and in sport. 
Come, worthy sir, come with me, and partake 
All the great things, that mortals happy make. 
Alas ! what virtue hath sufficient arms, 

20 T' oppose bright honour, and soft pleasure's charms ? 
What wisdom can their magick force repel ? 
It draws this rev' rend hermit from his cell. 
It was the time, when witty poets tell, 
"That Phoebus into Thetis' bosome fell: 

25 She blush'd at first, and then put out the light, 
And drew the modest curtains of the night." 
Plainly the troth to tell, the sun was set. 
When to the town our wearied trav'llers get, 
To a lord's house, as lordly as can be, 

30 Made for the use of pride and luxurie, 

Tliey come; the gentle courtier at the door 
Stops, and will hardly enter in before. 
But 'tis, sir, your command, and being so, 
I'm sworn t' obedience; and so in they go. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 115 

Behind a hanging in a spacious room, 

(The richest work of Mortlacke's noble loom) 

They wait a while their wearied limbs to rest, 

Till silence should invite them to their feast. 

"About the hour that Cynthia's silver light 5 

Had touch'd the pale meridies of the night," 

At last, the various supper being done, 

It happen'd that the company was gone 

Into a room remote, servants and all. 

To please their noble fancies with a ball. 10 

Our host leads forth his stranger, and does find 

All fitted to the bounties of his mind. 

Still on the table half-fill'd dishes stood, 

And with delicious bits the floor was strow'd. 

The court'ous mouse presents him with the best, 15 

And both with fat varieties are blest. 

Th' industrious peasant every where does range, 

And thanks the gods for his life's happy change. 

Lo! in the midst of a well-fraighted pie, 

They both at last glutted and wanton lie. 20 

When see the sad reverse of prosp'rous fate. 

And what fierce storms on mortal glories wait ! 

With hid'ous noise, down the rude servants come, 

Six dogs before run barking into th' room ; 

The wretched gluttons fly with wild affright, 25 

And hate the fulness which retards their flight. 

Our trembling peasant wishes now in vain. 

That rocks and mountains cover'd him again. 

Oh how the change of his poor Hfe he curst ! 

This, of all lives (said he) is sure the worst. 30 

Give me again, ye gods, my cave and wood ; 

With peace, let tares and acorns be my food. 



8-2 



ii6 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

A PARAPHRASE UPON THE ioth EPISTLE 
OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE. 

HORACE TO FUSCUS ARISTIUS. 

Health, from the lover of the country, me, 
Health to the lover of the city, thee; 
A difference in our souls, this only proves ; 
In all things else, we agree like married doves. 
5 But the warm nest and crowded dove-house thou 
Dost like ; I loosely fly from bough to bough, 
And rivers drink, and all the shining day, 
Upon fair trees or mossy rocks, I play; 
In fine, I live and reign, when I retire 
lo From all that you equal with heav'n admire. 
Like one at last from the priest's service fled, 
Loathing the honied cakes, I long for bread. 
Would I a house for happiness erect, 
Nature alone should be the architect, 
15 She'd build it more convenient, than great, 

And, doubtles, in the country chuse her seat. 

Is there a place, doth better helps supply, 

Against the wounds of winter's cruelty? 

Is there an air, that gentlier does asswage 
20 The mad celestial dog's, or lyon's rage? 

Is it not there that sleep (and only there) 

Nor noise without, nor cares within, does fear? 

Does art through pipes a purer water bring, 

Than that, which nature strains into a spring? 
25 Can all your tap'stries, or your pictures, show 

More beauties, than in herbs and flow'rs do grow ? 

Fountains and trees our wearied pride do please, 

Ev'n in the midst of gilded palaces. 



TN VERSE AND PROSE. irj 

And in your towns, that prospect gives delight, 

Which opens round the country to our sight. 

Men to the good, from which they rashly fly, 

Return at last; and their wild luxury 

Does but in vain with those true joys contend, 5 

Which nature did to mankind recommend. 

The man, who changes gold for burnisht brass, 

Or small right gems for larger ones of glass, 

Is not, at length, more certain to be made 

Ridiculous, and wretched by the trade, ic 

Than he, who sells a solid good to buy 

The painted goods of pride and vanity. 

If thou be wise, no glorious fortune choose, 

Which 'tis but pain to keep, yet grief to lose. 

For, when we place ev'n trifles in the heart, 15 

With trifles too, unwillingly we part. 

An humble roof, plain bed, and homely board, 

More clear, untainted pleasures do aftbrd. 

Than all the tumult of vain greatness brino-s 

To kings, or to the favorites of kings. 20 

The horned deer, by nature arm'd so well. 

Did with the horse in common pasture dwell; 

And, when they fought, the field it always wan. 

Till the ambitious horse begg'd help of man. 

And took the bridle, and thenceforth did reign 25 

Bravely alone, as lord of all the plain ; 

But never after could the rider get 

From off his back, or from his mouth the bit. 

So they, who poverty too much do fear, 

T' avoid that weight, a greater burden bear; 

That they might pow'r above their equals have, 

To cruel masters they themselves enslave. 

For gold, their liberty exchang'd we see, 

That fairest flower, which crowns humanitie. 



30 



ii8 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

And all this mischief does upon them light, 
Only because they know not how, aright. 
That great, but secret, happiness to prize, 
That 's laid up in a little, for the wise : 

5 That is the best and easiest estate, 

Which to a man sits close, but not too strait ; 
'Tis like a shoe; it pinches, and it burns, 
Too narrow ; and too large, it overturns. 
My dearest friend, stop thy desires at last, 

lo And chearfully enjoy the wealth thou hast. 
And, if me still seeking for more you see, 
Chide, and reproach, despise and laugh at me. 
Money was made, not to command our will, 
But all our lawful pleasures to fulfill. 

15 Shame and woe to us, if we our wealth obey; 
The horse doth with the horseman run away. 



THE COUNTRY LIFE. 
Lib. IV. Plantarum. 

Blest be the man (and blest he is) whom e*er 
(Plac'd far out of the roads of hope or fear) 
A little field, and little garden, feeds : 
20 The field gives all that frugal nature needs; 
The wealthy garden liberally bestows 
All she can ask, when she luxurious grows. 
The specious inconveniences, that wait 
Upon a life of business, and of state, 
25 He sees (nor does the sight disturb his rest) 
By fools desir'd, by wicked men possest. 
Thus, thus (and this deserv'd great Virgil's praise) 
The old Corycian yeoman past his days; 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 119 

Thus his wise Hfe Abdolonymus spent : 

Th' ambassadors, which the great emperour sent 

To offer him a crown, with wonder found 

The rev'rend gard'ner howing of his ground ; 

Unwilhngly and slow and discontent, 5 

From his lov'd cottage, to a throne he went. 

And oft he stopt in his triumphant way. 

And oft look'd back, and oft was heard to say, 

Not without sighs, Alas, I there forsake 

A happier kingdom than I go to take ! 10 

Thus Aglaus (a man unknown to men, 

But the gods knew, and therefore lov'd him then,) 

Thus liv'd obscurely then without a name, 

Aglaus, now consign'd t' eternal fame. 

For Gyges, the rich king, wicked and great, 15 

Presum'd, at wise Apollo's Delphick seat 

Presum'd, to ask. Oh thou, the whole world's eye, 

See'st thou a man, that happier is than I ? 

The god, who scorn'd to flatter men, reply'd, 

Aglaus happier is. But Gyges cry'd, 20 

In a proud rage, who can that Aglaus be? 

W have heard, as yet, of no such king as he. 

And true it was, through the whole earth around 

No king of such a name was to be found. 

Is some old hero of that name alive, 25 

Who his high race does from the gods derive? 

Is it some mighty gen'ral, that has done 

Wonders in fight, and god-Hke honours won? 

Is it some man of endless wealth, said he? 

None, none of these. Who can this Aglaus be? 30 

After long search, and vain inquiries past. 

In an obscure Arcadian vale at last, 

(Th' Arcadian life has always shady been) 

Near Sopho's town (which he but once had seen) 



I20 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

This Aglaus, who monarchs' envy drew, 
Whose happiness the gods stood witness to, 
This mighty Aglaus was labouring found. 
With his own hands, in his own little ground. 
5 So, gracious God, (if it may lawful be, 

Among those foolish gods to mention thee) 
So let me act, on such a private stage, 
The last dull scenes of my declining age; 
After long toils and voyages in vain, 
lo This quiet port, let my tost vessel gain ; 
Of heavenly rest, this earnest to me lend, 
Let my life sleep, and learn to love her end. 



flV VERSE AND PROSE. 121 




V. 



THE GARDEN". 

TO J. EVELYN, Esquire. 

NEVER had any other desire so strong, and 
so hke to covetousness, as that one which I 
have had always, that I might be master at 
last of a small house and large garden, with 
very moderate conveniences joyned to them, and there 5 
dedicate the remainder of my Hfe only to the culture of 
them, and study of nature ; 

And there (with no design beyond my wall) whole and entire 

to lye, 
In no unactive ease, and no unglorious poverty. 10 

Or, as Virgil has said, shorter and better for me, that 
I might there 

"Studiis florere ignol)ilis otii;" 

(though I could wish that he had rather said, "Nobilis 
oti," when he spoke of his own.) But several accidents 15 
of my ill fortune have disappointed me hitherto, and do 
still, of that felicity; for though I have made the first and 
hardest step to it, by abandoning all ambitions and hopes 
in this world, and by retiring from the noise of all business 
and almost company, yet I stick still in the inn of a hired 20 



122 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

house and garden, among weeds and rubbish : and without 
that pleasantest work of human industry, the improvement 
of something which we call (not very properly, but yet 
we call) our own. I am gone out from Sodom, but I am 

5 not yet arrived at my little Zoar. O let vie escape thither 
{is it not a little one?) a7id my soul shall live. I do not 
look back yet; but I have been forced to stop, and make 
too many halts. You may wonder, Sir, (for this seems a 
little too extravagant and Pindarical for prose) what I 

lo mean by all this preface; it is to let you know, that 
though I have mist, like a chymist, my great end, yet I 
account my affections and endeavours well rewarded by 
something that I have met with by the by; which is, that 
they have procured to me some part in your kindness 

15 and esteem; and thereby the honour of having my name 
so advantagiously recommended to posterity, by the 
epistle you are pleased to prefix to the most useful book 
that has been written in that kind, and which is to last as 
long as months and years. 

20 Among many other arts and excellencies, which you 
enjoy, I am glad to find this favourite of mine the most 
predominant; that you choose this for your wife, though 
you have hundreds of other arts for your concubines; 
though you know them, and beget sons upon them all (to 

25 which, you are rich enough to allow great legacies), yet, 
the issue of this seems to be designed by you to the main 
of the estate; you have taken most pleasure in it, and 
bestowed most charges upon its education: and I doubt 
not to see that book, which you are pleased to promise to 

30 the world, and of which you have given us a large earnest 
in your calendar, as accomplish'd, as any thing can be 
expected from an extraordinary wit, and no ordinary ex- 
pences, and a long experience. I know nobody tliat 
possesses more private happiness than you do in your 



IN VERSE And prose. 123 

garden; and, yet no man, who makes his happiness more 
publick by a free communication of the art and know- 
ledge of it to others. All that I myself am able yet to 
do, is only to recommend to mankind the search of that 
fehcity, which you 'instruct them how to find and to 5 
enjoy. 

I. 

Happy art thou, whom God does bless 
With the full choice of thine own happiness; 

And happier yet, because thou'rt blest 

With prudence, how to choose the best; 10 

In books and gardens, thou hast plac'd aright 

(Things well which thou dost understand; 
And both dost make with thy laborious hand) 

Thy noble, innocent delight: 
And in thy virtuous wife, where thou again dost meet 15 

Both pleasures more refin'd and sweet; 

The fairest garden in her looks. 

And in her mind the wisest books. 
Oh, who would change these soft, yet solid joys, 

For empty shows, and sensless noise ; 20 

And all which rank ambition breeds, 
Which seem such beauteous flowers, and are such poi- 
sonous weeds? 

2. 

When God did man to his own likeness make, 

As much as clay, though of the purest kind, 25 

By the great potter's art refin'd, 

Could the divine impression take, 

He thought it fit to place him, where 

A kind of heav'n too did appear. 
As far as earth could such a likeness bear: 30 

That man no happiness might want, 



124 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Which earth to her first master could afford, 

He did a garden for him plant 
By the quick hand of his omnipotent ^vord. 
As the chief help and joy of human life, 
5 He gave him the first gift; first, even before a wife. 

3- 
For God, the universal architect, 

'T had been as easy to erect 
A Louvre or Escurial, or a tower, 
That might with heaven communication hold, 
lo As Babel vainly thought to do of old — 
He wanted not the skill or power; 
In the world's fabrick those were shown, 
And, the materials were all his own. 
But well he knew, what place would best agree, 
15 With innocence, and with felicity : 

And we elsewhere still seek for them in vain 
If any part of either yet remain. 
If any part of either we expect, 
This may our judgment in the search direct; 
20 God the first garden made, and the first city Cain. 

4. 
O blessed shades! O gentle cool retreat 

From all th' immoderate heat, 
In which the frantick world doth burn and sweat! 
This does the lion-star, ambition's rage; 
25 This avarice, the dog-star's thirst asswage; 
Every where else their fatal power we see, 
They make and rule man's wretched destinie : 
They neither set, nor disappear, 
But tyrannize o'er all the year; 
30 Whilst we ne'er feel their flame or influence here. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE, 125 

The birds, that dance from bough to bough, 

And sing above in every tree, 

Are not from fears and cares more free, 
Than we, who he, or walk below, 

And should by right be singers too. 5 

What prince's choir of musick can excel 

That which within this shade does dwell? 

To which we nothing pay or give; 

They, like all other poets, live 
Without reward, or thanks for their obliging pains: 10 

'Tis well, if they become not prey: 
The whistling winds add their less artful strains. 
And a grave base the murmuring fountains play; 
Nature does all this harmony bestow, — 

But to our plants, art's musick too, 15 

The pipe, theorbo, and guitar we owe; 
The lute itself, which once was green and mute. 

When Orpheus struck th' inspired lute. 

The trees danc'd round, and understood 

By sympathy the voice of wood. 20 



These are the spells, that to kind sleep invite, 
And nothing does within resistance make, 

Which yet we moderately take; 

Who would not choose to be awake, 
While he's incompas'd round with such delight, 25 

To th' ear, the nose, the touch, the taste, and sight? 
When Venus would her dear Ascanius keep 
A pris'ner in the downy bands of sleep. 
She od'rous herbs and flowers beneath him spread. 

As the most soft and sweetest bed ; 30 

Not her own lap would more have charm'd his head. 



126 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Who, that has reason, and his smell. 
Would not among roses and jasmin dwell, 

Rather than all his spirits choak 
With exhalations of dirt and smoak? 

And all th' uncleanness, which does drown 
In pestilential clouds a populous town? 
The earth itself breathes better perfumes here, 
Than all the female men, or women, there, 
Not without cause, about them bear. 



6. 



lo When Epicurus to the world had taught, 
That pleasure was the chiefest good, 

(And was, perhaps, i' th' right, if rightly understood) 
His life he to his doctrine brought. 

And in a garden's shade that soveraign pleasure sought. 
15 Whoever a true epicure would be. 

May there find cheap and virtuous luxurie. 

Vitellius his table, which did hold 

As many creatures as the ark of old ; 

That fiscal table, to which every day 
20 All countries did a constant tribute pay, 

Could nothing more delicious afford 
Than nature's liberality, 

Helpt with a little art and industry. 

Allows the meanest gard'ner's board. 
25 The wanton taste no fish or fowl can choose. 

For which the grape or melon she would lose ; 

Though all th' inhabitants of sea and air 

Be listed in the glutton's bill of fare ; 
Yet still the fruits of earth we see 
30 Plac'd the third story high in all her luxurie. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE, 127 

7- 

But with no sense the garden does comply, 

None courts, or flatters, as it does the eye. 

When the great Hebrew king did ahiiost strain 

The wond'rous treasures of his wealth and brain, 

His royal southern guest to entertain ; 5 

Though she on silver floors did tread, 
With bright Assyrian carpets on them spread, 

To hide the metaFs poverty ; 
Though she look'd up to roofs of gold, 
And nought around her could behold, 10 

But silk and rich embroidery. 
And Babylonian tapestry, 

And wealthy Hiram's princely dy; 
Though Ophir's starry stones met every where her eye ; 
Though she herself and her gay host were drest 15 

With all the shining glories of the East ; 
When lavish art her costly work had done, 

The honour and the prize of bravery 
Was by the garden from the palace won ; 
And every rose and lilly there did stand 20 

Better attir'd by nature's hand : 
The case thus judg'd against the king we see, 
By one, that would n^t be so rich, though wiser far than he. 

8. 

Nor does this happy place only dispense 

Such various pleasures to the sense; 25 

Here health itself does live. 
That salt of life, which does to all a relish give, 
It's standing pleasure, and intrinsick wealth, 
The body's virtue, and the soul's good fortune, health. 



128 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

The tree of life, when it in Eden stood, 
Did its immortal head to heaven rear; 
It lasted a tall cedar, till the flood; 
Now a small thorny shrub it does appear; 
5 Nor will it thrive too every where : 

It always here is freshest seen ; 

'Tis only here an evergreen. 

If, through the strong and beauteous fence 

Of temperance and innocence, 
lo And wholsome labours, and a quiet mind, 

Any diseases passage find, 

They must not think here to assail 
A land unarmed, or without a guard ; 
They must fight for it, and dispute it hard, 
15 Before they can prevail : 

Scarce any plant is growing here, 
Which against death some weapon does not bear. 

Let cities boast, that they provide 

For life the ornaments of pride ; 
20 But 'tis the country and the field. 

That furnish it with staff and shield. 

9- 
Where does the wisdom and the power divine 
In a more bright and sweet reflection shine? 
Where do we finer strokes and colours see 
25 Of the Creator's real poetrie. 

Than when we with attention look 
Upon the third day's volume of the book? 
If we could open and intend our eye, 
We all, like Moses, should espy 
30 Ev'n in a bush the radiant Deity. 
But we despise these his inferior ways 
(Though no less full of miracle and praise) : 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 129 

Upon the flowers of heaven we gaze ; 
The stars of earth no wonder in us raise, 

Though these perhaps do more than they 
The hfe of mankind sway, 
Although no part of mighty nature be 
More stor'd with beauty, power, and mysterie; 
Yet, to encourage humane industrie, 
God has so order'd, that no other part 
Such space and such dominion leaves for art 



10. 

We nowhere art do so triumphant see, 10 

As when it grafts or buds the tree : 
In other things we count it to excel. 
If it a docile scholar can appear 
To Nature, and but imitate her well ; 
It over-rules, and is her master here. 15 

It imitates her Maker's power divine, 
And changes her sometimes, and sometimes does refine: 
It does, like grace, the fallen tree restore 
To its blest state of Paradice before : 
Who would not joy to see his conquering hand 20 

O'er all the vegetable world command? 
And the wild giants of the wood receive 

What law he's pleas'd to give ? 
He bids th' ill-natur'd crab produce 
The gentle apple's winy juice, 25 

The golden fruit, that worthy is 

Of Galatea's purple kiss : 

He does the savage hawthorn teach 

To bear the medlar and the pear; 

He bids the rustic plum to rear 30 

A noble trunk, and be a peach. 

L. C. 



I30 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Even Daphne's coyness he does mock, 
And weds the cherry to her stock, 
Though she refus'd Apollo's suit; 
Even she, that chaste and virgin tree, 
Now wonders at herself, to see 
That she's a mother made, and blushes in her fruit. 



II. 

Methinks, I see great Dioclesian walk 

In the Salonian garden's noble shade, 

Which by his own imperial hands was made ; 
lo I see him smile (methinks) as he does talk 

With the ambassadors, who come in vain, 
T' entice him to a throne again. 

If I, my friends (said he), should to you show 

All the delights, which in these gardens grow, 
15 'Tis likelier much, that you should with me stay, 

Than 'tis, that you should carry me away : 

And trust me not, my friends, if, every day, 
I walk not here with more delight 

Than ever, after the most happy fight, 
20 In triumph to the capitol I rod, 

To thank the gods, and to be thought myself almost 
a god. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. lu 




VL 

OF GREATNESS. 

[INCE we cannot attain to greatness (says the 
Sieiir de Montagne,) let us have our revenge 
by railing at it : " this he spoke but in jest. 
I believe he desired it no more than I do, 
and had less reason ; for he enjoyed so plentiful and 5 
honourable a fortune in a most excellent country, as 
allowed him all the real conveniencies of it, separated 
and purged from the incommodities. If I were but in 
his condition, I should think it hard measure, without 
being convinced of any crime, to be sequestred from 10 
it, and made one of the principal officers of state. But 
the reader may think that what I now say is of small 
authority, because I never was, nor ever shall be, put 
to the trial : I can therefore only make my protestation, 

If ever I more riches did desire 15 

Than cleanliness and quiet do require : 

If e'er ambition did my fancy cheat, 

With any wish, so mean as to be great, 

Continue, heaven, still from me to remove 

The humble blessing of that life I love. 20 

I know very many men will despise, and some pity me, 

9-2 



132 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

for this humour, as a poor-spirited fellow ; but I am 
content, and, like Horace, thank God for being so. 

Di bene fecerunt, inopis me quodque pusilli 
Finxerunt animi. 

5 I confess, I love littleness almost in all things. A 
little convenient estate, a little chearful house, a little 
company, and a very little feast ; and, if I were ever to 
fall in love again (which is a great passion, and therefore, 
I hope, I have done with it) it would be, I think, with 

lo prettiness, rather than with majestick beauty. I would 
neither wish that my mistress, nor my fortune, should 
be a dona roba, nor, as Homer uses to describe his beau- 
ties, like a daughter of great Jupiter, for the stateliness. 
and largeness of her person ; but, as Lucretius says, 

15 Parvula, pumilio, Xapiruu fxia, tota merum sal. 

Where there is one man of this, 1 believe there are a 
thousand of Senecio's mind, whose ridiculous affectation 
of grandeur, Seneca the elder describes to this effect : 
Senecio was a man of a turbid and confused wit, who 

20 could not endure to speak any but mighty words and 
sentences, till this humour grew at last into so notorious 
a habit, or rather a disease, as became the sport of the 
whole town : he would have no servants, but huge, 
massy fellows; no plate or household stuff, but thrice 

25 as big as the fashion : you may believe me, for I speak 
it without railery, his extravigancy came at last into 
such a madness, that he would not put on a pair of 
shoes, each of which was not big enough for both his 
feet : he would eat nothing but what was great, nor 

30 touch any fruit but horse-plums and pound-pears : he 
kept a concubine, that was a very gyantess, and made 
her walk too always in chiopins, till, at last, he got the 
surname of Senecio Grandio, which, Messala said, was 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 133 

not his cognomen, but his cognomentinn : when he de- 
claimed for the three hundred Lacedcemonians, who 
alone opposed Xerxes's army of above three hundred 
thousand, he stretch'd out his arms, and stood on tip- 
toes, that he might appear the taller, and cryed out, in a 5 
very loud voice : " I rejoyce, I rejoyce " — We wondred, 
I remember, what new great fortune had befaln his 
eminence. "Xerxes (says he) is all mine own. He, 
who took away the sight of the sea, with canvas veils 
of so many ships" — and then he goes on so, as I 10 
know not what to make of the rest, whether it be the 
fault of the edition, or the orator's own burly way of 
nonsence. 

This is the character that Seneca gives of this hyper- 
bolical fop, whom we stand amazed at, and yet there 15 
are very few men who are not in some things, and to 
some degrees, Grandios. Is any thing more common, 
than to see our ladies of quality wear such high shoes 
as they cannot walk in, without one to lead them ; and 
a gown as long again as their body, so that they cannot 20 
stir to the next room, without a page or two to hold it 
up? I may safely say, that all the ostentation of our 
grandees is, just like a train, of no use in the world, but 
horribly cumbersom and incommodius. What is all 
this, but a spice of Grandio ? how tedious would this be, 25 
if we were always bound to it ! I do believe there is no 
king, who would not rather be deposed, than endure, 
every day of his reign, all the ceremonies of his corona- 
tion. 

The mightiest princes are glad to fly often from these 30 
majestick pleasures (which is, methinks, no small dis- 
paragement to them) as it were for refuge, to the most 
contemptible divertisements, and meanest recreations of 
the vulgar, nay, even of children. One of the most 



134 DISCOURSES BY IVAY OF ESSAYS, 

powerful and fortunate princes of the world, of late, 
could find out no delight so satisfactory, as the keeping 
of little singing birds, and hearing of them, and whistling 
to them. What did the emperors of the whole world ? 
5 If ever any men had the free and full enjoyment of all 
humane greatness (nay that would not suffice, for they 
would be gods too), they certainly possest it : and yet 
one of them, who stiled himself lord and god of the 
earth, could not tell how to pass his whole day pleasant- 

lo ly, without spending constantly two or three hours in 
catching of flies, and killing them with a bodkin, as if his 
godship had been Beelzebub. One of his predecessors, 
Nero (who never put any bounds, nor met with any stop 
to his appetite), could divert himself with no pastime 

15 more agreeable, than to run about the streets all night in 
a disguise, and abuse the women, and affront the men 
whom he met, and sometimes to beat them, and some- 
times to be beaten by them : this was one of his imperial 
nocturnal pleasures. His chiefest in the day was, to sing, 

2c and play upon a fiddle, in the habit of a minstrel, upon 
the publick stage : he was prouder of the garlands that 
were given to his divine voice (as they called it then) in 
those kind of prizes, than all his forefathers were, of 
their triumphs over nations : he did not at his death 

25 complain that so mighty an emperor, and the last of all 
the Caesarian race of deities, should be brought to so 
shameful and miserable an end ; but only cried out, 
"Alas, what pity 'tis that so excellent a musician should 
perish in this manner!" His uncle Claudius spent half 

30 his time at playing at dice ; that was the main fruit of his 
soveraignty. I omit the madnesses of Caligula's delight, 
and the execrable sordidness of those of Tiberius. Would 
one think that Augustus himself, the highest and most 
fortunate of mankind, a person endowed too with many 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 135 

excellent parts of nature, should be so hard put to it 
sometimes for want of recreations, as to be found playing 
at nuts and bounding-stones, with little Syrian and 
Moorish boys, whose company he took delight in, for 
their prating and their wantonness ? 5 

Was it for this, that Rome's best blood he spilt 
With so much falsehood, so much guilt? 

Was it for this, that his ambition strove 

To equal Qesar, first ; and after, Jove? 

Greatness is barren, sure, of solid joys; 10 

Her merchandize (I fear) is all in toys : 

She could not else, sure, so uncivil be, 

To treat his universal majesty. 
His new -created Deity, 
\Vith nuts and bounding-stones and boys. 15 

But we must excuse her for this meager entertain- 
ment ; she has not really wherewithal to make such 
feasts as we imagine. Her guests must be contented 
sometimes with but slender cates, and with the same 
cold meats served over and over again, even till they 20 
become nauseous. When you have pared away all the 
vanity, what solid and natural contentment does there 
remain, which may not be had with five hundred pounds 
a year ? Not so many servants or horses ; but a few 
good ones, which will do all the business as well : not so 25 
many choice dishes at every meal ; but at several meals 
all of them, which makes them both the more healthy, 
and the more pleasant : not so rich garments, nor so 
frequent changes ; but as warm and as comely, and so 
frequent change too, as is every jot as good for the 30 
master, though not for the tailor or va/ef de chambre: not 
such a stately palace, nor gilt rooms, or the costliest sorts 
of tapestry ; but a convenient brick house, with decent 
wanscot, and j^retty forest-work hangings. Lastly, (for I 
omit all other particulars, and will end with that which I 35 



136 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

love most in both conditions) not whole woods cut in 
walks, nor vast parks, nor fountain or cascade gardens ; 
but herb, and flower, and fruit gardens, which are more 
useful, and the water every whit as clear and wholsom as 
5 if it darted from the breasts of a marble nymph, or the 
urn of a river-god. 

If, for all this, you like better the substance of that 
former estate of life, do but consider the inseparable 
accidents of both : servitude, disquiet, danger, and 

10 most commonly guilt, inherent in the one ; in the other, 
liberty, tranquility, security, and innocence. And when 
you have thought upon this, you will confess that to be 
a truth which appeared to you before but a ridiculous 
paradox, that a low fortune is better guarded and 

15 attended than a high one. If, indeed, we look only 
upon the flourishing head of the tree, it appears a most 
beautiful object, 

" — sed quantum vertice ad auras 
"i^therias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit." 

20 As far as up towards heaven the branches grow, 

So far the roots sink down to hell below. 

Another horrible disgrace to greatness is, that it is 
for the most part in pitiful want and distress. What a 
wonderful thing is this ! Unless it degenerate into a- 
25 varice, and so cease to be greatness, it falls perpetually 
into such necessities, as drive it into all the meanest 
and most sordid ways of borrowing, cousenage, and 
robbery : 

Mancipiis locuples, eget seris Cappadocum rex. 

30 This is the case of almost all great men, as well as of 
the poor king of Cappadocia : they abound with slaves, 
but are indigent of money. The ancient Roman em- 
perors, who had the riches of the whole world lor their 



lA^ VERSE AND PROSE. 137 

revenue, had wherewithal! to live (one would have 
thought) pretty well at ease, and to have been exempt 
from the pressures of extream poverty. But, yet with 
most of them it was much otherwise ; they fell per- 
petually into such miserable penury, that they were 5 
forced to devour or squeeze most of their friends and 
servants, to cheat with infamous projects, to ransack and 
pillage all their provinces. This fashion of imperial 
grandeur is imitated by all inferior and subordinate sorts 
of it, as if it were a point of honour. They must be 10 
cheated of a third part of their estates ; two other thirds 
they must expend in vanity ; so that they remain debtors 
for all the necessary provisions of life, and have no way 
to satisfie those debts, but out of the succours and 
supplies of rapine. As riches encrease (says Solomon), 15 
so do the mouths that devour them. The master mouth 
has no more than before. The owner, methinks, is like 
Ocnus in the fable, who is perpetually winding a rope of 
hay, and an ass at the end perpetually eating it. 

Out of these inconveniences arises naturally one more, 20 
which is, that no greatness can be satisfied or contented 
with itself : still, if it could mount up a little higher, it 
would be happy ; if it could gain but that point, it would 
obtain all its desires ; but yet at last, when it is got up 
to the very top of the Pic of Tenariff, it is in very great 25 
danger of breaking its neck downwards, but in no pos- 
sibility of ascending upwards into the seat of tranquillity 
above the moon. The first ambitious men in the world, 
the old giants, are said to have made an heroical attempt 
of scaling heaven in despight of the gods ; and they 30 
cast Ossa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa: two or 
three mountains more, tliey thought, would have done 
their business ; but the thunder spoil'd all their work, 
when they were come up to the third story : 



138 DISCOUJiSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

And what a noble plot was crost ! 
And what a brave design was lost ! 

A famous person of their off-spring, the late gyant of 
our nation, when, from the condition of a very incon- 
5 siderable captain, he had made himself lieutenant general 
of an army of little Titans, which was his first mountain, 
and afterwards general, which was the second, and after 
that, absolute tyrant of three kingdoms, which was the 
third, and almost touch' d the heaven which he affected, 

10 is believed to have died with grief and discontent, be- 
cause he could not attain to the honest name of a king, 
and the old formality of a crown, though he had before 
exceeded the power by a wicked usurpation. If he could 
have compass'd that, he would perhaps have wanted 

15 something else that is necessary to felicity, and pined 
away for the want of the title of an emperor or a god. 
The reason of this is, that greatness has not reality in 
nature, but is a creature of the fancy, a notion that 
consists only in relation and comparison : it is indeed an 

20 idol ; but St Paul teaches us, that an idol is nothing in 
the world. There is, in truth, no rising or meridian of 
the sun, but only in respect to several places : there is no 
right nor left, no upper-hand, in nature ; every thing is 
little, and every thing is great, according as it is diversly 

25 compared. There may be perhaps some village in 
Scotland or Ireland, where I might be a great man ; 
and in that case I should be like Caesar (you would 
wonder how C?esar and I should be like one another in 
any thing) ; and choose rather to be the first man of the 

30 village, than second at Rome. Our country is called 
Great Britany, in regard only of a lesser of the same 
name ; it would be but a ridiculous epithele for it, when 
we consider it together with the kingdom of China. 
That, too, is but a pitiful rood of ground, in comparison 



I 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 139 

of the whole earth besides : and this whole globe of 
earth, which we account so immense a body, is but one 
point or atome in relation to those numberless worlds 
that are scattered up and down in the infinite space of 
the sky which we behold. 5 

The other many inconveniences of grandeur I have 
spoken of disperstly in several chapters ; and shall end 
this with an ode of Horace, not exactly copied, but 
rudely imitated. 



HORACE, LIB. HI. ODE I. 

"Odi profanum vulgus et arceo." 

I. 

Hence, ye prophane ; I hate ye all 10 

Both the great vulgar, and the small. 
To virgin minds, which yet their native whitness hold, 
Not yet discolour'd with the love of gold, 

(That jaundice of the soul, 
Which makes it look so gilded and so foul,) 15 

To you, ye very few, these truths I tell ; 
The muse inspires my song ; hark, and observe it well. 

2. 

We look on men, and wonder at such odds 
'Twixt things that were the same by birth. 

We look on kings as giants of the earth, 20 

These giants are but pigmeys to the gods. 
The humblest bush and proudest oak 

Are but of equal proof against the thunder-stroke. 

Beauty, and strength, and wit, and wealth, and power, 
Have their short flourishing hour; 25 



I40 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

And love to see themselves, and smile, 
And joy in their pre-eminence a while; 

Even so in the same land, 
Poor weeds, rich corn, gay flowers, together stand; 
5 Alas, death mows down all with an impartial hand. 

3 

And all you men, whom greatness does so please, 
Ye feast, I fear, like Damocles: 
If ye your eyes could upwards move, 

(But ye, I fear, think nothing is above) 
lo Ye would perceive by what a little thread 
The sword still hangs over your head. 

No tide of wine w^ould drown your cares ; 

No mirth or musick over-noise your fears. 

The fear of death would you so watchful keep, 
15 As not t'admit the image of it, sleep. 

4. 

Sleep is a god too proud to wait in palaces, 
And yet so humble too, as not to scorn 

The meanest country cottages ; 

"His poppey grows among the corn." 
20 The halycon sleep v/ill never build his nest 

In any stormy breast. 

'Tis not enough that he does fmd 

Clouds and darkness in their mind ; 

Darkness but half his work will do ; 
25 'Tis not enough ; he must find quiet too. 

5. 
The man, who, in all wishes he does make, 

Does only nature's counsel take, 
That wise and hapj^y man will never fear 
The evil as})ects of tlie year; 
30 Nor tremble, though two comets should appear. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 141 

He does not look in almanacks, to see 

Whether he fortunate shall be ; 
Let Mars and Saturn in the heavens conjoyn, 
And what they please against the world design, 

So Jupiter within him shine. 5 

6. 

If of your pleasures and desires no end be found, 
God to your cares and fears will set no bound. 

What would content you? who can tell? 
Ye fear so much to lose what ye have got, 

As if you lik'd it well : 10 

Ye strive for more, as if you lik'd it not. 

Go, level hills, and fill up seas, 
Spare nought that may your wanton fancy please ; 

But, trust me, when you have done all this. 
Much will be missing still, and much will be amiss. 15 



142 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 




VII. 
OF AVARICE. 



[HERE are two sorts of avarice : the one is 
but of a bastard kind, and that is, the rapa- 
cious appetite of gain ; not for its own sake, 
but for the pleasure of refunding it immedi- 
5 ately through all the channels of pride and luxury. The 
other is the true kind, and properly so called ; which is 
a restless and unsatiable desire of riches, not for any 
farther end or use, but only to hoard, and preserve, and 
perpetually encrease them. The covetous man, of the first 
lo kind, is like a greedy ostrich, which devours any metal ; 
but 'tis with an intent to feed upon it, and in effect it 
makes a shift to digest and excern it. The second is 
like the foolish chough, which loves to steal money only 
to hide it. The first does much harm to mankind; and 
15 a Httle good too, to some few : the second does good to 
none ; no, not to himself The first can make no excuse 
to God, or angels, or rational men, for his actions : the 
second can give no reason or colour, not to the devil 
himself, for what he does ; he is a slave to Mammon, 
20 without wages. The first makes a shift to be beloved ; 
ay, and envyed, too, by some people : the second is the 
universal object of hatred and contempt. There is no 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 143 

vice has been so pelted with good sentences, and especially 
by the poets, who have pursued it with stories and fables, 
and allegories, and allusions ; and moved, as we say, 
every stone to fling at it : among all which, I do not 
remember a more fine and gentleman-like correction than 5 
that which was given it by one line of Ovid. 

" Desunt luxurice multa, avaritiae omnia." 
Much_is wanting to luxury, all to avarice. 

To which saying, I have a mind to add one member, 
and tender it thus ; 10 

Poverty wants some, luxuiy many, avarice all things. 

Somebody says of a virtuous and wise man, "that 
having nothing, he has all:" this is just his antipode, 
who, having all things, yet has nothing. 

And, oh, what man's condition can be worse 15 

Than his, whom plenty starves, and blessings curse ; 
The beggars but a common fate deplore, 
The rich poor man's emphatically poor. 

I wonder how it comes to pass, that there has never 
been any law made against him : against him, do I say ? 20 
I mean, for him : as there are public provisions made for 
all other mad-men : it is very reasonable that the king 
should appoint some persons (and I think the courtiers 
would not be against this proposition) to manage his 
estate during his life (for his heirs commonly need not 25 
that care) ; and out of it to make it their business to see, 
that he should not want alimony befitting his condition, 
which he could never get out of his own cruel fingers. 
We relieve idle vagrants, and counterfeit beggars; but 
have no care at all of these really poor men, who are 30 
(methinks) to be respectfully treated, in regard of their 
quality. I might be endless against them, but I am 
almost choakt with the super-abundance of the matter; 



144 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

too much plenty impoverishes me, as it does them. I 
will conclude this odious subject with part of Horace's 
first satire, which take in his own familiar stile : 



I ADMIRE, Maecenas, how it comes to pass, 

5 That no man ever yet contented was, 
Nor is, nor perhaps will be, with that state 
In which his own choice plants him, or his fate. 
Happy the merchant ! the old souldier cries. 
The merchant, beaten with tempestuous skies, 

10 Happy the souldier ! one half-hour to thee 
Gives speedy death, or glorious victory. 
The lawyer, knockt up early from his rest 
By restless clyents, calls the peasant blest ; 
The peasant, when his labours ill succeed, 

15 Envies the mouth, which only talk does feed. 
'Tis not (I think you'll say) that I want store 
Of instances, if here I add no more; 
They are enough to reach at least a mile 
Beyond long orator Fabius his stile. 

20 But hold, you whom no fortune e'er endears, 
Gentlemen, malecontents, and mutineers, 
Who bounteous Jove so often cruel call. 
Behold, Jove's now resolv'd to please you all. 
Thou, souldier, be a merchant ; merchant, thou 

25 A souldier be ; and, lawyer, to the plow. 

Change all your stations strait : why do they stay? 
The devil a man will change, now, when he may. 
Were I in gen'ral Jove's abused case. 
By Jove I'de cudgel this rebellious race : 

30 But he's too good ; be all then, as you were : 
However, make the best of what you are. 
And in that state be chearful and rejoyce. 
Which either was your fate, or was your choice : 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 145 

No, they must labour yet, and sweat and toil, 

And very miserable be a while. 

But 'tis with a design only to gain 

What may their age with plenteous ease maintain. 

The prudent pismire does this lesson teach, 5 

And industry to lazy mankind preach. 

The little drudge does trot about and sweat. 

Nor does he strait devour all he can get ; 

But in his temperate mouth carries it home 

A stock for winter, which he knows must come. 10 

And, when the rowling world to creatures here 

Turns up the deform'd wrong side of jthe year, 

And shuts him in, with storms, and cold, and wet, 

He chearfully does his past labours eat : 

O, does he so? your wise example, th' ant, 15 

Does not, at all times, rest and plenty want. 

But, weighing justly a mortal ant's condition, 

Divides his life 'twixt labour and fruition. 

Thee, neither heat, nor storms, nor wet, nor cold, 

From thy unnatural diligence can withhold : 20 

To th' Indies thou would'st run, rather than see 

Another, though a friend, richer than thee. 

Fond man ! what good or beauty can be found 

In heaps of treasure, buried under ground? 

Which rather than diminisht e'er to see, 25 

Thou would'st thyself, too, buried with them be : 

And what's the diff'rence? is't not quite as bad 

Never to use, as never to have had ? 

In thy vast barns millions of quarters store ; 

Thy belly, for all that, will hold no more 30 

Than mine does. Every baker makes much bread: 

What then? He's with no more, than others, fed. 

Do you within the bounds of nature live, 

And to augment your own you need not strive; 

L. C. 10 



146 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

One hundred acres will no less for you 
Your life's whole business, than ten thousand, do. 
But pleasant 'tis to take from a great store. 
What, man? though you're resolv'd to take no more 
5 Than I can from a small one.^ If your will 
Be but a pitcher or a pot to fill, 
To some great river for it must you go, 
When a clear spring just at your feet does flow? 
Give me the spring, which does to humane use 

lo Safe, easie, and untroubled stores produce ; 

He who scorns these, and needs will drink at Nile, 
Must run the .danger of the crocodile, 
And of the rapid stream itself, which may. 
At unawares, bear him perhaps away, 

15 In a full flood Tantalus stands, his skin 
Washt o'er in vain, for ever dry within; 
He catches at the stream with greedy lips, 
From his toucht mouth the wanton torrent slips : 
You laugh now, and expand your careful brow ; 

20 'Tis finely said, but what's all this to you ? 
Change but the name, this fable is thy story, 
Thou in a flood of useless wealth dost glory. 
Which thou canst only touch, but never taste; 
Th' abundance still, and still the want, does last. 

25 The treasures of the gods thou would'st not spare : 
But, when they're made thine own, they sacred are, 
And must be kept with reverence ; as if thou 
No other use of precious gold didst know. 
But that of curious pictures, to delight 

30 With the fair stamp thy virtuoso sight. 
The only true and genuine use is this, 
To buy the things, which nature cannot miss 
Without discomfort; oyl, and vital bread, 
And wine, by which the life of life is fed. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 147 

And all those few things else by which we live. 
All that remains, is given for thee to give; 
If cares and troubles, envy, grief, and fear, 
The bitter fruits be, which fair riches bear; 
If a new poverty grow out of store; 
The old plain way, ye gods ! let me be poor. 



PARAPHRASE ON HORACE, B. III. OD. XVI. 

Beginning thus Indusam Danaen ticrris ahenea. 

I. 

A TOWER of brass, one would have said, 

And locks, and bolts, and iron bars, 

And guards, as strict as in the heat of wars. 

Might have at least preserv'd one innocent maid. 10 

The jealous father thought, he well might spare 

All further jealous care ; 
And, as he walkt, t' himself alone he smil'd, 

To think how Venus' arts he had beguil'd; 

And, when he slept, his rest was deep, 15 

But Venus laught to see and hear him sleep. 

She taught the amorous Jove 

A magical receipt in love. 
Which arm'd him stronger, and which help'd him more, 
Than all his thunder did, and his almighty-ship before. 20 

2. 

She taught him love's elixir, by which art 

His godhead into gold he did convert : 

No guards did then his passage stay, 
He pass'd with ease ; gold was the word ; 

io — 2 



148 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Subtle as lightning, bright and quick and fierce, 
Gold through doors and walls did pierce. 
The prudent Macedonian king, 

To blow up towns, a golden mine did spring. 
5 He broke through gates with this petar, 

'Tis the great art of peace, the engine 'tis of war ; 
And fleets and armies follow it afar : 

The ensign 'tis at land, and 'tis the seamen's 'star. 



Let all the world slave to this tyrant be, 
lo Creature to this disguised deitie, 

Yet it shall never conquer me. 

A guard of virtues will not let it pass, 

And wisdom is a tower of stronger brass. 

The Muse's lawrel, round my temples spred, 
15 Does from this lightning's force secure my head. 
Nor will I lift it up so high. 

As in the violent meteor's way to lye. 

Wealth for its power do we honour and adore ? 

The things we hate, ill fate, and death, have more. 



20 From towns and courts, camps of the rich and great, 
The vast Xerxean army, I retreat. 
And to the small Laconick forces fly. 

Which hold the streights of poverty. 
Sellers and granaries in vain we fill, 
25 With all the summer's store. 

If the mind thirst and hunger still : 

The poor rich man's emphatically poor. 

Slave to things we too much prize, 
We masters grow of all that we despise. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 149 

5- 
A field of corn, a fountain, and a wood, 

Is all the wealth by nature understood. 
The monarch, on whom fertile Nile bestows 

All which that grateful earth can bear, 

Deceives himself, if he suppose 5 

That more than this falls to his share. 
Whatever an estate does beyond this afford, 

Is not a rent paid to the lord ; 
But is a tax illegal and unjust, 
Exacted from it by the tyrant lust. 10 

Much will always wanting be 

To him who much desires. Thrice happy he 
To whom the wise indulgency of heaven, 

With sparing hand, but just enough has given. 



I50 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 




VIII. 

THE DANGERS OF AN HONEST MAN IN 
MUCH COMPANY. 

F twenty thousand naked Americans were 
not able to resist the assaults of but twenty 
well-armed Spaniards, I see little possibility 
for one honest man to defend himself against 
5 twenty thousand knaves, who are all furnisht cap a pe, 
with the defensive arms of worldly prudence, and the 
offensive too of craft and malice. He will find no less 
odds than this against him, if he have much to do in 
human affairs. The only advice therefore that I can 
lo give him is, to be sure not to venture his person any 
longer in the open campagne, to retreat and entrench 
himself, to stop up all avenues, and draw up all bridges 
against so numerous an enemy. 

The truth of it is, that a man in much business must 
15 either make himself a knave, or else the world will make 
him a fool : and, if the injury went no farther than the 
being laught at, a wise man would content himself with 
the revenge of retaliation ; but the case is much worse, 
for these civil cannibals too, as well as the wild ones, not 
20 only dance about such a taken stranger, but at last 
devour him. A sober man cannot get too soon out of 
drunken company, though they be never so kind and 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 151 

merry among themselves ; 'tis not unpleasant only, but 
dangerous to him. 

Do ye wonder that a virtuous man should love to be 
alone ? It is hard for him to be otherwise ; he is so, 
when he is among ten thousand : neither is the solitude 5 
so uncomfortable to be alone without any other creature, 
as it is to be alone in the midst of wild beasts. Man is 
to man all kind of beasts; a fawning dog, a roaring lion, 
a thieving fox, a robbing wolf, a dissembUng crocodile, a 
treacherous decoy, and a rapacious vultur. The civilest, 10 
methinks, of all nations, are those, whom we account the 
most barbarous ; there is some moderation and good- 
nature in the Toupinambaltians, who eat no men but 
their enemies, whilst we learned and polite and Chris- 
tian Europeans, like so many pikes and sharks, prey upon 15 
everything that we can swallow. It is the greatest boast 
of eloquence and philosophy, that they first congregated 
men disperst, united them into societies, and built up 
the houses and the walls of cities. I wish they could un- 
ravel all they had woven ; that we might have our woods 20 
and our innocence again, instead of our castles and our 
policies. They have assembled many thousands of scat- 
tered people into one body: 'tis true, they have done so; 
they have brought them together into cities to cozen, and 
into armies to murder one another : they found them 25 
hunters and fishers of wild creatures ; they have made 
them hunters and fishers of their brethren ; they boast 
to have reduced them to a state of peace, when the truth 
is, they have only taught them an art of war; they have 
framed, I must confess, wholesome laws for the restraint 30 
of vice, but they rais'd first that devil, which now they 
conjure and cannot bind ; though there were before no 
punishments for wickedness, yet there was less com- 
mitted because there were no rewards for it. 



152 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

But the men, who praise philosophy from this topick 
are much deceived ; let oratory answer for itself, the 
tinkling perhaps of that may unite a swarm : it never 
was the work of philosophy to assemble multitudes, but 
5 to regulate only, and govern them, when they were as- 
sembled ; to make the best of an evil, and bring them, 
as much as is possible, to unity again. Avarice and am- 
bition only were the first builders of towns, and founders 
of empire ; they said. Go to, let us build us a city and a tower 

lo whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a 
name, lest we he scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. 
What was the beginning of Rome, the metropolis of all 
the world ? what was it, but a concourse of thieves, and 
a sanctuary of criminals? It was justly named by the 

15 augury of no less than twelve vulturs, and the founder 
cemented his walls with the blood of his brother. Not 
unlike to this was the beginning even of the first town 
too in the world, and such is the original sin of most 
cities : their actual encrease daily with their age and 

20 growth : the more people, the more wicked all of them ; 
every one brings in his part to enflame the contagion, 
which at last becomes so universal and so strong, that 
no precepts can be sufficient preservatives, nor any thing 
secure our safety, but flight from among the infected. 

25 We ought, in the choice of a situation, to regard, 
above all things, the healthfulness of the place, and 
the healthfulness of it for the mind, rather than for 
the body. But suppose (which is hardly to be sup- 
posed) we had antidote enough against this poison ; 

30 nay, suppose further, we were always and at all pieces 
armed and provided, both against the assaults of hos- 
tility, and the mines of treachery, 'twill yet be but an 
uncomfortable life to be ever in alarms ; though we 
were compass'd round with fire, to defend ourselves 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. \sz 

from wild beasts, the lodgings would be unpleasant, be- 
cause we must always be obliged to watch that fire, and 
to fear no less the defects of our guard, than the dili- 
gences of our enemy. The sum of this is, that a virtuous 
man is in danger to be trod upon and destroyed in the 5 
crowd of his contraries, nay, which is worse, to be 
changed and corrupted by them ; and that 'tis impos- 
sible to escape both these inconveniencies without so much 
caution, as will take away the whole quiet, that is, the 
happiness, of his life. 10 

Ye see, then, what he may lose; but, I pray, what 
can he get there ? 

Quid Romae faciani ? jNIentiii nescio. 

What should a man of truth and honesty do at Rome? 
He can neither understand nor speak the language of 15 
the place ; a naked man may swim in the sea, but 'tis 
not the way to catch fish there ; they are likelier to 
devour him, than he them, if he bring no nets, and use 
no deceits. I think, therefore, it was wise and friendly 
advice, which Martial gave to Fabian, when he met him 20 
newly arrived at Rome : 

Honest and poor, faithful in word and thought ; 

What has thee, Fabian, to the city brought? 

Thou neither the buffoon nor bawd canst play. 

Nor with false whispers th' innocent betray ; «5 

Nor corrupt wives, nor from rich beldams get 

A living by thy industry and sweat; 

Nor with vain promises and projects cheat, 

Nor bribe or flatter any of the great. 

But you're a man of learning, prudent, just; 30 

A man of courage, firm, and fit for trust. 

Why you may stay, and live unenvied here; 

But (faith) go back, and keep you where you were. 

Nay, if nothing of all this were in the case, yet the 
very sight of uncleanness is loathsome to the cleanly; the 35 



154 niSCOUJ^SES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

sight of folly and impiety, vexatious to the wise and 
pious. 

Lucretius, by his favour, though a good poet, was 
but an ill-natur'd man, when he said, it was delightful 
5 to see other men in a great storm. And no less iil- 
natur'd should I think Democritus, who laughs at all 
the world, but that he retired himself so much out of it, 
that we may perceive he took no great pleasure in that 
kind of mirth. I have been drawn twice or thrice by 

lo company to go to Bedlam, and have seen others very 
much delighted with the fantastical extravagancy of so 
many various madnesses, which upon me wrought so 
contrary an effect, that I always returned, not only 
melancholy, but even sick with the sight. My compas- 

15 sion there was perhaps too tender, for I meet a thousand 
madmen abroad, without any perturbation ; though, to 
weigh the matter justly, the total loss of reason is less 
deplorable than the total depravation of it. An exact 
judge of human blessings, of riches, honours, beauty, 

20 even of wit itself, should pity the abuse of them more 
than the want. 

Briefly; though a wise man could pass never so securely 
through the great roads of human life, yet he will meet 
perpetually with so many objects and occasions of com- 

25 passion, grief, shame, anger, hatred, indignation, and all 
passions but envy (for he will find nothing to deserve 
that), that he had better strike into some private path ; 
nay, go so far, if he could, out of the common way, "ut 
nee facta audiat Pelopidarum ; " that he might not so 

30 much as hear of the actions of the sons of Adam. But, 
whither shall we fly then ? into the deserts like the 
antient hermites? 

— Qua terra patet, fera regnat Erimiys, 
[n facinus jurasse putes. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 155 

One would think that all mankind had bound them- 
selves by an oath to do all the wickedness they can; that 
they had all (as the Scripture speaks) sold themselves to 
sin : the difference only is, that some are a little more 
crafty (and but a little, God knows), in making of the 5 
bargain. I thought, when I went first to dwell in the 
country, that, without doubt, I should have met there 
with the simplicity of the old poetical golden age ; I 
thought to have found no inhabitants there, but such as 
the shepherds of Sir Philip Sydney in Arcadia, or of 10 
Monsieur d'Urfe upon the banks of Lignon ; and began 
to consider with myself, which way I might recommend 
no less to posterity the happiness and innocence of the 
men of Chertsea : but, to confess the truth, I perceived 
quickly, by infallible demonstrations, that I was still in 15 
Old England, and not in Arcadia, or La Forrest ; that, 
i^ I could not content myself with any thing less than 
exact fidelity in humane conversation, I had almost as 
good go back and seek for it in the Court, or the Ex- 
change, or Westminster-hall. I ask again then, whither 20 
shall we fly, or what shall we do? The world may so 
come in a man's way, that he cannot choose but salute 
it. If, by any lawful vocation, or just necessity, men 
happen to be married to it, I can only give them St. Paul's 
advice : Brethren, the time is short ; it remains, that 25 
they, that have wives, be as though they had none. — 
But I would that all men were even as I myself. 

In all cases, they must be sure, that they do munduin 
dticere, and not mundo imhere. They must retain the 
superiority and headship over it; happy are they, who 30 
can get out of the sight of this deceitful beauty, that 
they may not be led so much as into temptation ; who 
have not only quitted the metropolis, but can abstain 
from ever seeing the next market town of their country. 



156 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

CLAUDIAN'S OLD MAN OF VERONA. 

"Felix, qui patriis revuni," &c. 

Happy the man, who his whole time doth bound 

Within th' inclosure of his Httle ground. 

Happy the man, whom the same humble place 

(Th' hereditary cottage of his race) 
5 From his first rising infancy has known, 

And by degrees sees gently bending down, 

With natural propension, to that earth 

Which both preserv'd his Hfe, and gave him birth. 

Him no false distant lights, by fortune set, 
10 Could ever into foolish wand'rings get. 

He never dangers either saw, or fear'd : 

The dreadful storms at sea he never heard. 

He never heard the shril alarms of war, 

Or the worse noises of the lawyers' bar. 
15 No change of consuls marks to him the year. 

The change of seasons is his calendar. 

The cold and heat, winter and summer shows ; 

Autumn by fruits, and spring by flow'rs he knows, 

He measures time by land-marks, and has found 
20 For the whole day the dial of his ground. 

A neighbouring wood, born with himself, he sees, 

And loves his old contemporary trees. 

He's only heard of near Verona's name, 

And knows it, like the Indies, but by fame. 
25 Does with a like concernment notice take 

Of the Red sea, and of Benacus' lake. 

Thus health and strength he to a third age enjoys, 

And sees a long posterity of boys. 

About the spacious world let others roam, 
30 The voyage, life, is longest made at home. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE, 157 




IX. 

THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE, AND 
UNCERTAINTY OF RICHES. 

jF you should see a man, that were to cross 
from Dover to Calais, run about very busie 
and solicitous, and trouble himself many 
weeks before in making provisions for his 
voyage, would you commend him for a cautious and 5 
discreet person, or laugh at him for a timerous and im- 
pertinent coxcomb? A man, who is excessive in his 
pains and diligence, and who consumes the greatest part 
of his time in furnishing the remainder with all conve- 
niencies and even superfluities, is to angels and wise men 10 
no less ridiculous; he does as little consider the short- 
ness of his passage, that he might proportion his cares 
accordingly. It is, alas, so narrow a straight betwixt 
the womb and the grave, that it might be called the Pas . 
de Vie, as well as that the Pas de Calais. 15 

We are all icfiyjix^poi, (as Pindar calls us,) creatures of 
a day, and therefore our Saviour bounds our desires to 
that little space ; as if it were very probable that every 
day should be our last, we are taught to demand even 
bread for no longer a time. The sun ought not to set 20 
upon our covetousness, no more than upon our anger; 
but, as to God Almighty a thousand years are as one 



158 DISCOUJiSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

day, so, in direct opposition, one day to the covetous 
man is as a thousand years; "tarn brevi fortis jaculatur 
3evo multa," so far he shoots beyond his butt : one would 
think, he were of the opinion of the Millenaries, and 
5 hoped for so long a reign upon earth. The patriarchs 
before the flood, who enjoy'd almost such a life, made, 
we are sure, less stores for the maintaining of it ; they, 
who Hved nine hundred years, scarcely provided for a 
few days ; we, who live but a few days, provide at least 

10 for nine hundred years. What a strange alteration is 
this of human life and manners ! and yet we see an imi- 
tation of it in every man's particular experience ; for we 
begin not the cares of life, till it be half spent, and still 
encrease them, as that decreases. 

15 What is there among the actions of beasts so illogical 
and repugnant to reason? When they do any thing 
which seems to proceed from that which we call reason, 
we disdain to allow them that perfection, and attribute 
it only to a natural instinct : and are not we fools, too, 

20 by the same kind of instinct ? If we could but learn to 
number our days (as we are taught to pray that we 
might), we should adjust much better our other ac- 
counts; but, whilst we never consider an end of them, 
it is no wonder if our cares for them be without end, 

25 too. Horace advises very wisely, and in excellent good 
words, 

— Spatio brevi 
Spem longam reseces — 

from a short life cut off all hopes that grow too long. 
30 They must be pruned away, like suckers, that choak the 
mother-plant, and hinder it from bearing fruit. And in 
another place, to the same sence, 

Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam ; 
which Seneca does not mend when he says, "O ! quanta 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 159 

dementia est spes longas inchoantium !" but he gives an 
example there of an acquaintance of his, named Senecio, 
who, from a very mean beginning, by great industry in 
turning about of money through all ways of gain, had 
attained to extraordinary riches, but died on a sudden 5 
after having supped merrily, "In ipso actu bene ceden- 
tium rerum, in ipso procurrentis fortunae impetu," in 
the full course of his good fortune, when she had a high 
tide, and a stiff gale, and all her sails on ; upon which 
occasion he cries, out of Virgil, 10 

"Insere nunc, Meliboee, pyros; pone ordine vites!" 



Go, Melibceus, now, 

Go graft" thy orchards, and thy vhieyards plant; 
Behold the fruit! 

For this Senecio I have no compassion, because he 15 
was taken, as we say, i/i ipso facto, still labouring in the 
work of avarice ; but the poor rich man in St. Luke 
(whose case was not like this) I could pity, methinks, if 
the Scripture would permit me; for he seems to have 
been satisfied at last, he confesses he had enough for 20 
many years, he bids his soul take its ease; and yet, for all 
that, God says to him. Thou fool, this night thy soul 
shall be required of thee ; and the things thou hast laid 
up, who shall they belong to? Where shall we find the 
causes of this bitter reproach and terrible judgment? We 25 
may find, I think, two ; and God, perhaps, saw more. 
First, that he did not intend true rest to his soul, but 
only to change the employments of it from avarice to 
luxury; his design is, to eat and to drink, and to be 
merry. Secondly, that he went on too long before he 30 
thought of resting; the fulness of his old barns had not 
sufficed him, he would stay till he was forced to build 
new ones ; and God meted out to him in the same 



i6o DISCOURSES BY IVAY OF ESSAYS, 

measure ; since he would have more riches than his life ■ j 
could contain, God destroy'd his life, and gave the fruits 1 1 
of it to another. f 

Thus God takes away sometimes the man from his 
5 riches, and no less frequently riches from the man : what 
hope can there be of such a marriage, where both parties 
are so fickle and uncertain ? by what bonds can such a 
couple be kept long together ? 



I. 



Why dost thou heap up wealth, which thou must quit, 
lo Or, what is worse, be left by it? 

Why dost thou load thyself, when thou'rt to flie, 
Oh man, ordain'd to die? 



2. 



Why dost thou build up stately rooms on high. 
Thou who art under ground lo lie? 
15 Thou sow'sl and plantest, but no fruit must see. 
For death, alas ! is sowing thee. 



Suppose, thou fortune could'st to tameness bring 
And clip or pinion her wing; 

Suppose, thou could'st on fate so far prevail, 
As not to cut off thy entail; 



Yet death at all that subtilty will laugh, 

Death will that foolish gard'ner mock, 

Who does a slight and annual plant engraff, 
Upon a lasting stock. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. i6i 

5- 
Thou dost thyself wise and industrious deem ; 

A mighty husband thou would'st seem; 
Fond man ! Hke a bought slave, thou all the while 

Dost but for others sweat and toil. 

6. 

Officious fool ! that needs must meddling be 5 

In bus'ness, that concerns not thee! 

For when to future years thou extend'st thy cares, 
Thou deal'st in other men's affairs. 

7. 
Even aged men, as if they truly were 

Children again, for age prepare; 10 

Provisions for long travail they design, 

In the last point of their short line. 

8. 

Wisely the ant against poor winter hoards 

The stock, which summer's wealth affords; 

In grasshoppers, that must at autumn die, 15 

How vain were such an industry ! 

9- 
Of power and honour the deceitful light 

Might half excuse our cheated sight. 
If it of life the whole small time would stay, 

And be our sun-shine all the day; 20 

10. 

Like lightning, that, begot but in a cloud, 

(Though shining bright, and speaking loud) 

Whilst it begins, concludes its violent race. 

And where it gilds, it wounds the place. 

L. C. II 



i02 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 



IT, 



Oh, scene of fortune, which dost fair appear, 
Only to men that stand not near ! 

Proud poverty, that tinsel brav'ry wears ! 
Aud, like a rainbow, painted tears ! 

12. 

5 Be prudent, and the shore in prospect keep. 
In a weak boat trust not the deep. 
Plac'd beneath envy, above envying rise ; 

Pity great men, great things despise. 

13- 

The wise example of the heavenly lark, 
lo Thy fellow-poet, Cowley, mark ; 

Above the clouds, let thy proud musick sound 
Thy humble nest build on the ground. 



IN VERSE AND I'ROSE. 163 




X. 

THE DANGER OF PROCRASTINATION. 
A Letter to Mr S. L. 

AM glad that you approve and applaud my 
design, of withdrawing myself from all tumult 
and business of the world ; and consecrating 
the little rest of my time to those studies, to 
which nature had so motherly inclined me, and from 5 
which fortune, like a step-mother, has so long detained 
me. But nevertheless (you say), which, but, is "aerugo 
mera," a rust which spoils the good metal it grows upon. 
But (you say) you would advise me not to precipitate 
that resolution, but to stay a while longer with patience 10 
and complaisance, till I had gotten such an estate as - 
might afford me (according to the saying of that person, 
whom you and I love very much, and would believe as 
soon as another man) " cum dignitate otium." This 
were excellent advice to Joshua, who could bid the sun 15 
stay too. But there is no fooling with life, when it is 
once turn'd beyond forty. The seeking for a fortune 
then is but a desperate after-game: 'tis a hundred to one, 
if a man fling two sixes, and recover all ; especially, if 
his hand be no luckier than mine. 20 

II —2 



1 64 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

There is some help for all the defects of fortune ; for 
if a man cannot attain to the length of his wishes, he 
may have his remedy by cutting of them shorter. Epi- 
curus writes a letter to Idomeneus who was then a very 
5 powerful, wealthy, and (it seems), a bountiful person to 
recommend to him, who had made so many rich, one Py- 
thocles, a friend of his, whom he desired might be made a 
rich man too ; " but I intreat you that you would not do 
it just the same way as you have done to many less 
lo deserving persons, but in the most gentlemanly manner 
of obliging him, which is, not to add any thing to his 
estate, but to take something from his desires." 

The sum of this is, that, for the uncertain hopes of 

some conveniences, we ought not to defer the execution 

15 of a work that is necessary ; especially, when the use of 

those things, which we would stay for, may otherwise be 

supplyed ; but the loss of time, never recovered : nay, 

fardier yet, though we were sure to obtain all that we 

had a mind to, though we were sure of getting never so 

20 much by continuing the game, yet, when the light of life 

is so near going out, and ought to be so precious, " le 

jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle," the play is not worth the 

expence of the candle : after having been long tost in a 

tempest, if our masts be standing, and we have still sail 

25 and tackling enough to carry us to our port, it is no 

matter for the want of streamers and top-gallants ; 

utere velis, 

Totos pande sinus — 

A gentleman in our late civil wars, when his quarters 

30 were beaten up by the enemy, was taken prisoner, and 

lost his life afterwards, only by staying to put on a band, 

and adjust his perriwig ; he would escape like a person 

of quality, or not at all, and dyed the noble martyr of 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 165 

ceremony and gentility. I think, your counsel of " Fes- 
tina lente" is as ill to a man who is flying from the world, 
as it would have been to that unfortunate well-bred 
gentleman, who was so cautious as not to fly undecently 
from his enemies ; and therefore I prefer Horace's advice 5 

before yours, 

sapere aude, 

Incipe — 

Begin ; the getting out of doors is the greatest part of 
the journey. Varro teaches us that Latin proverb, 10 
"portam itineri longissimam esse:" but to return to 

Horace, 

*' — Sapere aude : 
Incipe; vivendi recte qui prorogat horam, 

Rusticus exspectat, dum labitur amnis, at ille 15 

Labitui-, et labetur in omne volubilis sevum." 

Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise ; 

He who defers this work from day to day, 

Does on a river's bank expecting stay. 

Till the whole stream, which stopt him, should be gone, 10 

That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on. 

Caesar (the man of expedition above all others) was 
so far from this folly, that whensoever, in a journey, he 
was to cross any river, he never went one foot out of his 
way for a bridge, or a ford, or a ferry ; but flung himself 25 
into it immediately, and swam over : and this is the 
course we ought to imitate, if we meet with any stops in 
our way to happiness. Stay till the waters are low ; stay 
till some boats come by to transport you ; stay till a 
bridge be built for you : you had even as good stay, till 30 
the river be quite past. Persius (who, you use to say, 
you do not know whether he be a good poet or no, 
because you cannot understand him, and whom, therefore, 
T say, I know to be not a good poet) has an odd expres- 



i66 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

sion of these procrastinators, which, methinks, is full of 

fancy : 

"Jam eras hesternum consumpsimus ; ecce aliud eras 
Egerit hos annos." 

5 Our yesterday's to-morrow now is gone, 
And still a new to-morrow does come on ; 
We by to-morrows draw up all our store, 
Till the exhausted well can yield no more. 

And now, I think, I am even with you, for your 
lo " Otium cuin dignitate," and " Festina lente," and three 
or four other more of your new Latine sentences : if I 
should draw upon you all my forces out of Seneca and 
Plutarch upon this subject, I should overwhelm you; 
but I leave those, as Triarii^ for your next charge. I 
15 shall only give you now a light skirmish out of an epi- 
grammatist, your special good friend ; and so, vale. 

MARTIALIS, LIB. V. EPIGR. LVIII. 

"Cras te victurum," &c. 

To-morrow you will live, you always cry ! 
In what far country does this morrow lye, 
That 'tis so mighty long ere it arrive? 
20 Beyond the Indies does this morrow live ? 
'Tis so far fetch't this morrow, that I fear 
'Twill be both very old and very dear. 
To-morrow I will live, the fool does say: 
To-day itself's too late ; the wise lived yesterday. 

MARTIAL, LIB. II. EPIGR. XC. 

" Quintiliane, vaga.' moderator," &c. 

25 Wonder not, Sir, (you who instruct the town 
In the true wisdom of the sacred gown) 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 167 

That I make haste to Hve, and cannot hold 

Patiently out, till I grow rich and old. 

Life for delays and doubts no time does give, 

None ever yet made haste enough to live. 

Let him defer it, whose preposterous care 5 

Omits himself, and reaches to his heir. 

Who does his father's bounded stores despise, 

And whom his own too never can suffice : 

My humble thoughts no glittering roofs require, 

Or rooms, that shine with aught but constant fire. 10 

I well content the avarice of my sight 

With the fair gildings of reflected light : 

Pleasures abroad, the sport of nature yields 

Her living fountains, and her smiling fields ; 

And then at home, what pleasure is't to see 15 

A little cleanly chearful familie ! 

Which if a chaste wife crown, no less in her 

Than fortune, I the golden mean prefer. 

Too noble, nor too wise, she should not be, 

No, nor too rich, too fair, too fond of me. 20 

Thus let my life slide silently away. 

With sleep all night, and quiet all the day. 



1 68 DISCO UliSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 




XI. 

OF MYSELF. 

jT is a hard and nice subject for a man to write 
of himself; it grates his own heart to say any 
thing of disparagement, and the reader's ears 
to hear any thing of praise from him. There 
5 is no danger from me of offending him in this kind; 
neither my mind, nor my body, nor my fortune, allow 
me any materials for that vanity. It is sufficient for my 
own contentment, that they have preserved me from 
being scandalous, or remarkable on the defective side. 
lo But, besides that, I shall here speak of myself, only in 
relation to the subject of these precedent discourses, and 
shall be likelier thereby to fall into the contempt, than 
rise up to the estimation, of most people. 

As far as my memory can return back into my past 
15 life, before I knew, or was capable of guessing, what the 
world, or the glories or business of it, were, the natural 
affections of my soul gave me a secret bent of aversion 
from them, as some plants are said to turn away from 
others, by an antipathy imperceptible to themselves, and 
20 inscrutable to man's understanding. Even when I was a 
very young boy at school, instead of running about on 
holydays and playing with my fellows, I was wont to 
steal from them, and walk into the fields, either alone 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 169 

Avith a book, or with some one companion, if I could 
find any of the same temper. I was then, too, so much 
an enemy to all constraint, that my masters could never 
prevail on me, by any perswasions or encouragements, 
to learn without book the common rules of grammar ; in 5 
which they dispenced with me alone, because they found 
I made a shift to do the usual exercise out of my own 
reading and observation. That I was then of the same 
mind as I am now (which, I confess, I wonder at, myself) 
may appear by the latter end of an ode, which I made 10 
when I was but thirteen years old, and which was then 
printed with many other verses. The beginning of it is 
boyish; but of this part, which I here set down (if a 
very little were corrected), I should hardly now be much 
ashamed. 15 



This only grant me, that my means may lye 
Too low for envy, for contempt too high. 

Some honour I would have. 
Not from great deeds, but good alone ; 
The unknown are better, than ill known : 20 

Rumour can ope the grave. 
Acquaintance I would have, but when 't depends 
Not on the number, but the choice of friends. 

10. 

Books shoidd, not business, entertain the light. 

And sleep, as undisturb'd as death, the night. 25 

My house a cottage more 
Than palace; and should fitting be 
For all my use, no luxurie. 

My garden painted o'er 



I70 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

With nature's hand, nor art's ; and pleasures yield, 
Horace might envy in his Sabine field. 



II. 

Thus would I double my life's fading space; 
For he, that runs it well, twice runs his race. 
5 And in this true delight, 

These unbought sports, that happy state, 
I would not fear, nor wish, my fate; 

But boldly say each night, 
To-morrow let my sun his beams display, 
lo Or, in clouds hide .them ; I have liv'd, to-day. 

You may see by it, I was even then acquainted with 
the poets (for the conclusion is taken out of Horace) ; 
and perhaps it was the immature and immoderate love 
of them, which stampt first, or rather engraved, the 

15 characters in me : they were like letters cut into the bark 
of a young tree, which with the tree still grow propor- 
tionably. But, how this love came to be produced in me 
so early, is a hard question : I beheve, I can tell the 
particular little chance that filled my head first with such 

20 chimes of verse, as have never since left ringing there : 
for I remember, when I began to read, and take some 
pleasure in it, there was wont to lye in my mother's 
parlour (I know not by what accident, for she herself 
never in her life read any book but of devotion) but there 

25 was wont to lye Spenser's works: this I happened to fall 
upon, and was infinitely delighted with the stories of the 
knights, and gyants, and monsters, and brave houses, 
which I found every where there (though my understand- 
ing had little to do with all this); and, by degrees, with 

30 the tinkhng of the rhyme and dance of the numbers ; so 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 171 

that, I think, I had read him all over before I was twelve 
years old. 

With these affections of mind, and my heart wholly 
set upon letters, I went to the university ; but was soon 
torn from thence by that violent public storm, which 5 
would suffer nothing to stand where it did, but rooted 
up every plant, even from the princely cedars to me 
the hyssop. Yet, I had as good fortune as could have 
befallen me in such a tempest ; for I was cast by it into 
the family of one of the best persons, and into the court 10 
of one of the best princesses, of the world. Now, though 
I was here engaged in ways most contrary to the original 
design of my life, that is, into much company, and no 
small business, and into a daily sight of greatness, both 
militant and triumphant (for that was the state then of 15 
the English and French courts) ; yet all this was so far 
from altering my opinion, that it only added the confir- 
mation of reason to that which was before but natural 
inclination. I saw plainly all the paint of that kind of 
life, the nearer I came to it; and that beauty, which I 20 
did not fall in love with, when, for aught I knew, it 
was real, was not like to bewitch or intice me, when I 
saw that it was adulterate. I met with several great 
persons, whom I Hked very well ; but could not perceive 
that any part of their greatness was to be liked or de- 25 
sired, no more than I would be glad or content to be in 
a storm, though I saw many ships which rid safely and 
bravely in it : a storm would not agree with my stomach, 
if it did with my courage. Though I was in a crowd of 
as good company as could be found any where, though I 30 
was in business of great and honourable trust, though I 
eat at the best table, and enjoyed the best conveniences 
for present subsistence that ought to be desired by a 
man of my condition in banishment and pubHck distresses; 



172 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

yet I could not abstain from renewing my old school-boy's 
wish, in a copy of verses to the same effect : 

I. 

Well then ; I now do plainly see 
This busie world and I shall ne'er agree. 
5 The very Honey of all earthly joy 

Does of all meats the soonest cloy, 
And they (methinks) deserve my pity, 
Who for it can endui-e the stings, 
The crowd, and buzz, and murmurings 
to Of this great hive, the city. 



Ah, yet, ere I descend to th' grave, 
May I a small house and large garden have ! 
And a few friends, and many books, both true, 

Both wise, and both delightful too ! 
15 And since love ne'er will from me flee, 

A Mistress moderately fair, 
And good as guardian-angels are, 

Only beloved, and loving me ! 



O Fountains, when in you shall I 
20 Myself, eas'd of unpeaceful thoughts espy ? 

Oh fields ! Oh woods ! when, when shall I be made, 
The happy tenant of your shade ? 
Here's the spring-head of pleasure's flood ; 
Where all the riches lye, that she 
25 Has coyn'd and stampt for good. 



Pride and Ambition here 
Only in far fetcht metaphors appear; 
Here nought but winds can hurtful murmurs scatter. 

And nought but Echo flatter, 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 173 

The gods when they descended hither 
From heaven, did always chuse their way ; 
And therefore we may boldly say, 

That 'tis the way to thither. 

5- 

How happy here should I 5 

And one dear she live, and embracing dye ! 
She who is all the world, and can exclude 

In desarts solitude 

I should have then this only fear, 
Lest men, when they my pleasures see, 10 

Should hither throng to live like me. 

And so make a city here. 

And I never then proposed to myself any other advan- 
tage from his majesty's happy restauration, but the 
getting into some moderately convenient retreat in the 15 
country ; which I thought, in that case, I might easily 
have compassed, as well as some others, who with no 
greater probabilities or pretences, have arrived to extra- 
ordinary fortunes: but I had before written a shrewd 
prophesie against myself; and I think Apollo inspired me 20 
in the truth, though not in the elegance, of it : 

Thou neither great at court, nor in the war, 

Nor at th' exchange shalt be, nor at the wrangling bar. 

Content thyself with the small barren praise. 

That neglected verse does raise. 25 

She spake ; and all my years to come 
Took their unlucky doom. 
Their several ways of life let others chuse, 
Their several pleasures let them use; 
But I was born for Love, and for a Muse. 30 

4. 

With Fate what boots it to contend? 
Such I began, such am, and so must end. 



174 DISCOURSES BY IVAY OF ESSAYS, 

The Star, that did my being frame, 
Was but a lambent flame, 
And some small light it did dispence, 
But neither heat nor influence. 
5 No matter, Cowley; let proud Fortune see, 
That thou canst her despise no less than she does thee. 
Let all her gifts the portion be 
Of folly, lust, and flatterie. 
Fraud, extortion, calunmie, 
lo Murder, infidelitie. 

Rebellion and hypocrisie. 
Do thou not grieve nor blush to be. 
As all th' inspired tuneful men. 
And all thy great forefathers were, from Homer down 
15 to Ben. 

However, by the failing of the forces which I had 
expected, I did not acquit the design which I had resolved 
on; I cast myself into it a corps perdu, without making 
capitulations, or taking counsel of fortune. But God 

20 laughs at a man, who says to his soul, Take thy ease : 
I met presently not only with many little incumbrances 
and impediments, but with so much sickness (a new 
misfortune to me) as would have spoiled the happiness 
of an emperor as well as mine : yet I do neither repent, 

25 nor alter my course. "Non ego perfidum dixi sacra- 
mentum;" nothing shall separate me from a mistress, 
which I have loved so long, and have now at last 
married; though she neither has brought me a rich 
portion, nor lived yet so quietly with me as I hoped 

30 from her: 

"Nee vos, dulcisshna muncli 

Nomina, vos Musae, libertas, otia, libri, 

Ilortique syh'ceque, anima remanente, relinquam." 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 175 

Nor by me e'er shall you, 
You, of all names the sweetest, and the best, 
Vou, Muses, books, and liberty, and rest ; 
You, gardens, fields, and woods, forsaken be, 
As long as life itself forsakes not me. 

But this is a very pretty ejaculation ; because I have 
concluded all the other chapters with a copy of verses, 
1 will maintain the humour to the last. 



MARTIAL, LIB. X. EPIGR. XLVIL 

" Vitam quai faciunt beatiorem," etc. 

Since, dearest friend, 'tis your desire to see 

A true receipt of happiness from me; 10 

These are the chief ingredients, if not all : 

Take an estate neither too great nor small, 

Which quantum sufficit the doctors call. 

Let this estate from parents' care descend ; 

The getting it too much of life does spend. 15 

Take such a ground, whose gratitude may be 

A fair encouragement for industry. 

Let constant fires the winter's fury tame; 

And let thy kitchen's be a vestal flame. 

Thee to the town let never suit at law, 20 

And rarely, very rarely, business draw. 

Thy active mind in equal temper keep, 

In undisturbed peace, yet not in sleep. 

Let exercise a vigorous health maintain. 

Without which all the composition's vain. 25 

In the same weight prudence and innocence take. 

Ana of each does the just mixture make. 

But a few friendships wear, and let them be 

By nature and by fortune fit for thee. 



176 DISCOURSES BY WAY OF ESSAYS, 

Instead of art and luxury in food, 

Let mirth and freedom make thy table good. 

If any cares into thy day-time creep, 

At night, without wine's opium, let them sleep. 

5 Let rest, which nature does to darkness wed, 

And not lust, recommend to thee thy bed. 
Be satisfied, and pleas'd with what thou art. 
Act chearfully and well th' allotted part; 
Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the past, 

lo And neither fear, nor wish, th' approaches of the last. 

MARTIAL, LIB. X. EPIGR. XCVI. 

" Saepe loquar nimium gentes," &c. 

Me, who have liv'd so long among the great, 
You wonder to hear talk of a retreat : 
And a retreat so distant, as may show 
No thoughts of a return, when once I go. 

15 Give me a country, how remote so e'er, 

Where happiness a moderate rate does bear, 

Where poverty itself in plenty flows, 

And all the solid use of riches knows. 

The ground about the house maintains it there, 

20 The house maintains the ground about it here. 
Here even hunger's dear ; and a full board 
Devours the vital substance of the lord. 
The land itself does there the feast bestow, 
The land itself must here to market go. 

25 Three or four suits one winter here does wast. 
One suit does there three or four winters last. 
Here every frugal man must oft be cold, 
And little luke-warm fires are to you sold. 
There fire's an element, as cheap and free, 

30 Almost as any of the other three. 



IN VERSE AND PROSE. 177 

Stay you then here, and Hve among the great, 
Attend their sports, and at their tables eat. 
When all the bounties here of men you score, 
The place's bounty there shall give me more. 

EPITAPHIUM VIVI AUCTORIS. 

*'PIic, o viator, sub lare parvulo 
Couleius hie est conditus, hie jacet; 
Defunctus humani laboris 
Sorte, supervacuaque vita. 

Non indecora pauperie nitens, 
Et non inerti nobilis otio, 
Vanoque dilectis popello 
Divitiis animosus hostis. 

Possis ut ilium dicere mortuum ; 
En terra jam nunc quantula sufficit ! 
Exempta sit curis, viator, 
Terra sit ilia levis, precare. 

Hie sparge flores, sparge breves rosas, 
Nam vita gaudet mortua floribus, 
Herbisque odoratis corona 

Vatis adhuc cinerem calentem." 



10 



15 



20 



L. c. 




PREFACE TO "CUTTER OF COLEMAN 
STREET." 

COMEDY, call'd the Guardian, and made by 
me when I was very young, was acted formerly 
at Cambridge ; and several times after, pri- 
vately during the troubles, as I am told, with 
5 good approbation, as it has been lately too at Dublin. 
There being many things in it which I dislik'd, and 
finding myself for some days idle, and alone in the 
country, I fell upon the changing of it almost wholly, as 
now it is, and it was play'd since at his Royal Highness's 
lo theatre, under this new name. It met at the first repre- 
sentation with no favourable reception, and I think there 
was something of faction against it, by the early appear- 
ance of some men's disapprobation before they had seen 
enough of it to build their dislike upon their judgment. 
15 Afterwards it got some ground, and found friends, as 
well as adversaries. In which condition I should wil- 
lingly let it die, if the main imputation under which it 
suffer'd had been shot only against my wit or art in these 
matters, and not directed against the tenderest parts of 
20 human reputation, good nature, good manners, and piety 
itself. 



CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET. 179 

The first clamour, which some malicious persons 
rais'd, and made a great noise with, was, that it was a 
piece intended for abuse and satyre against the King's 
party. Good God ! against the King's party ? After 
having served it twenty years during all the time of their 5 
misfortunes and afflictions, I must be a very rash and 
imprudent person, if I chose out that of their restitution 
to begin a quarrel with them. I must be too much a 
madman to be trusted with such an edg'd tool as comedy. 
But first, why should either the whole party (as it was 10 
once distinguish'd by that name, which I hope is abolish'd 
now by universal loyalty), or any man of virtue or honour 
in it, believe themselves injur'd, or at all concern'd, by 
the representation of the faults and follies of a few, who, 
in the general division of the nation, had crowded in 15 
among them? In all mix'd numbers (which is the case 
of parties), nay, in the most entire and continu'd bodies, 
there are often some degenerated and corrupted parts, 
which may be cast away from that, and even cut off from 
this unity, without any infection of scandal to the re- 20 
maining body. The church of Rome, with all her 
arrogance, and her wide pretences of certainty in all 
truths, and exemption from all errors, does not clap on 
this enchanted armour of infallibility upon all her par- 
ticular subjects, nor is offended at the reproof of her 25 
greatest doctors. We are not, I hope, become such 
Puritans ourselves, as to assume the name of the congre- 
gation of the spotless. It is hard for any party to be so 
ill as that no good, impossible to be so good as that no 
ill, should be found among them. And it has been the 30 
perpetual privilege of satyre and comedy, to pluck their 
vices and folhes, tho' not their persons, out of the 
sanctuary of any title. A cowardly ranting soldier, an 
ignorant charlatanical doctor, a foolish cheating lawyer, a 

12 — 2 



ISO 



PREFACE TO 



silly pedantical scholar, have always been, and still are, 
the principal subjects of all comedies, without any scandal 
given to those honourable professions, or even taken by 
their severest professors. And, if any good physician or 

5 divine should be offended with me here, for inveighing 
against a quack, or for finding Deacon Soaker too often 
in the butteries, my respect and reverence to their callings 
would make me troubled at their displeasure, but I could 
not abstain from taking them for very cholerick and 

lo quarrelsome persons. What does this therefore amount 
to, if it were true which is objected ? But it is far from 
being so ; for the representation of two sharks about the 
town (fellows merry and ingenious enough, and therefore 
admitted into better companies than they deserve, yet 

15 withal two very scoundrels, which is no unfrequent 
character at London), the representation, I say, of these 
as pretended officers of the royal army, was made for no 
other purpose but to show the world, that the vices and 
extravagances imputed vulgarly to the cavaliers, were 

20 really committed by aliens who only usurp'd that name, 
and endeavour'd to cover the reproach of their indigency, or 
infamy of their actions, with so honourable a title. So that 
the business was not here to correct or cut off any natural 
branches, though never so corrupted or luxuriant, but to 

25 separate and cast away that vermin, which, by sticking 
so close to them, had done great and considerable pre- 
judice both to the beauty and fertility of the tree ; and 
this is as plainly said, and as often inculcated, as if one 
should write round about a sign, This is a dog^ This is a 

30 dog^ out of over-much caution lest some might happen to 
mistake it for a lion. 

Therefore, when this calumny could not hold (for the 
case is clear, and will take no colour,) some others sought 
out a subtler hint, to traduce me upon the same score, 



CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET i8i 

and were angry, that the person whom I made a true 
gentleman, and one both of considerable quality and 
sufferings in the royal party, should not have a fair and 
noble character throughout, but should submit, in his 
great extremities, to wrong his niece for his own relief. 5 
This is a refin'd exception, such as I little foresaw, nor 
should, with the dulness of my usual charity, have found 
out against another man in twenty years. The truth is, 
I did not intend the character of a hero, one of exemplary 
virtue, and, as Homer often terms such men, unblameable, 10 
but an ordinary jovial gentleman, commonly called a 
good-fellow, one not so conscientious as to starve rather 
than do the least injury, and yet endow'd with so much 
sense of honour, as to refuse, when that necessity was 
removed, the gain of five thousand pounds, which he might 15 
have taken from his niece by the rigour of a forfeiture : 
and let the frankness of this latter generosity so expiate 
for the former frailty, as may make us not ashamed of his 
company ; for, if his true metal is but equal to his allay, 
it will not indeed render him one of the finest sorts of 20 
men, but it will make him current, for aught I know, in 
any party that ever yet was in the world. If you be to 
chuse parts for a comedy out of any noble or elevated 
rank of persons, the most proper for that work are the 
worst of that kind. Comedy is humble of her nature, 25 
and has always been bred low, so that she knows not 
how to behave herself with the great and accomplish'd. 
She does not pretend to the brisk and bold qualities of 
wine, but to the stomachal acidity of vinegar ; and there- 
fore is best plac'd among that sort of people which the 30 
Romans call The lees of Romulus. If I had design'd 
here the celebration of the virtues of our friends, I would 
have made the scene nobler where I intended to erect 
their statues. They should have stood in odes and 



1 82 PREFACE TO 

tragedies, and epick poems (neither have I totally omit- 
ted those great testimonies of my esteem of them) — "Sed 
nunc non erat his locus," &c. 

And so much for this little spiny objection, which a 
5 man cannot see without a magnifying-glass. The next 
is enough to knock a man down, and accuses me of no 
less than prophaneness. Prophane, to deride the hypo- 
crisie of those men whose skulls are not yet bare upon 
the gates since the publick and just punishment of it? 

lo But there is some imitation of Scripture-phrases : God 
forbid ! there is no representation of the true face of 
Scripture, but only of that vizard which these hypocrites 
(that is, by interpretation, actors with a vizard) draw 
upon it. Is it prophane to speak of Harrison's return to 

15 life again, when some of his friends really profest their 
belief of it, and he himself had been said to promise it ? 
A man may be so imprudently scrupulous as to find 
prophaneness in any thing, either said or written, by 
applying it under some similitude or other to some 

20 expressions in scripture. This nicety is both vain and 
endless. But I call God to witness, that, rather than one 
tittle should remain among all my writings, which, ac- 
cording to my severest judgment, should be found 
guilty of the crime objected, I would myself burn and 

25 extinguish them all together. Nothing is so detestably 
leud and wretchless as the derision of things sacred; 
and would be in me more unpardonable than any man 
else, who have endeavour'd to root out the ordinary 
weeds of poetry, and to plant it almost wholly with 

30 divinity. I am so far from allowing any loose or 
irreverent expressions in matters of that religion which I 
believe, that I am very tender in this point, even for the 
grossest errors of conscientious persons; they are the 
properest object (methinks) both of our pity and charity 



CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET 183 

too : they are the innocent and white sectaries, in com- 
parison of another kind, who engraft pride upon ignorance, 
tyranny upon liberty, and upon tall their heresies, treason 
and rebellion. These are principles so destructive to the 
peace and society of mankind, that they deserve to be 5 
pursu'd by our serious hatred ; and the putting a mask 
of sanctity upon such devils, is so ridiculous, that it ought 
to be exposed to contempt and laughter. They are indeed 
prophane, who counterfeit the softness of the voice of 
holiness, to disguise the roughness of the hands of 10 
impiety ; and not they, who, with reverence to the thing 
which others dissemble, deride nothing but their dissimula- 
tion. If some piece of an admirable artist should be ill 
copy'd, even to ridiculousness, by an ignorant hand ; and 
another painter should undertake to draw that copy, and 15 
make it yet more ridiculous, to shew apparently the 
.difference of the two works, and deformity of the latter ; 
will not every man see plainly, that the abuse is intended 
to the foolish imitation, and not to the excellent original ? 
I might say much more, to confute and confound this 20 
very false and malicious accusation ; but this is enough, I 
hope, to clear the matter, and is, I am afraid, too much 
for a preface to a work of so little consideration. 

As for all other objections, which have been or may 
be made against the invention or elocution, or any thing 25 
else which comes under the critical jurisdiction, let it 
stand or fall as it can answer for itself, for I do not lay 
the great stress of my reputation upon a structure of this 
nature, much less upon the slight reparations only of an 
old and unfashionable building. There is no writer but 30 
may fail sometimes in point of wit ; and it is no less 
frequent for the auditors to fail in point of judgment. I 
perceive plainly, by daily experience, that Fortune is 
mistress of the theatre, as Tully says it is of all popular 



1 84 PREFACE TO 

assemblies. No man can tell sometimes from whence 
the invisible winds rise that move them. There are a 
multitude of people, who are truly and only spectators 
at a play, without any use of their understanding ; and 

5 these carry it sometimes by the strength of their num- 
bers. There are others, who use their understandings 
too much ; who think it a sign of weakness and stupidity, 
to let any thing pass by them unattack'd, and that the 
honour of their judgments (as some brutals imagine of 

lo their courage) consists in quarrelling with every thing. 
We are therefore wonderful wise men, and have a fine 
business of it, we, who spend our time in poetry. I do 
sometimes laugh, and am often angry with myself, when 
I think on it ; and if I had a son inclined by nature to 

15 the same folly, I believe I should bind him from it by 
the strictest conjurations of a paternal blessing. For 
what can be more ridiculous, than to labour to give men 
delight, whilst they labour, on their part, more earnestly 
to take offence? To expose one's self voluntarily and 

20 frankly to all the dangers of that narrow passage to 
unprofitable fame, which is defended by rude multitudes 
of the ignorant, and by armed troops of the malicious? 
If we do ill, many discover it, and all despise us ; if we 
do well, but few men find it out, and fewer entertain it 

25 kindly. If we commit errors, there is no pardon ; if we 
could do wonders, there would be but little thanks, and 
that, too, extorted from unwilling givers. 

But some perhaps may say. Was it not always thus ? 
do you expect a particular privilege, that was never yet 

30 enjoyed by any poet? Were the ancient Grecian or noble 
Roman authors, was Virgil himself, exempt from this 
possibility : 

Qui niultis, melior quam tu, fuit, iniprobe, rebus; 
who was, in many things, thy better far, thou impudent 



CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET 185 

pretender? As was said by Lucretius to a person, who 
took it ill that he was to die, though he had seen so 
many do it before him, who better deserv'd immortality ; 
and this is to repine at the natural condition of a living 
poet^ as he did at that of a living mortal. I do not 5 
only acknowledge the pre-eminence of Virgil (whose 
footsteps I adore), but submit to many of his Roman 
brethren ; and I confess, that even they, in their own 
times, were not so secure from the assaults of detraction 
(though Horace brags at last, 10 

Jam dente minus mordeor invido;) 

but then the barkings of a few were drown'd in the 
applause of all the rest of the world, and the poison of 
their bitings extinguish'd by the antidote of great 
rewards and great encouragements, which is a way of 15 
curing now out of use ; and I really profess, that I 
neither expect, nor think I deserve it. Indolency would 
serve my turn instead of pleasure : but the case is not so 
well; for, though I comfort myself with some assurance 
of the favour and affection of very many candid and good- 20 
natur'd (and yet too, judicious and even critical) persons ; 
yet this I do affirm, that from all which I have written I 
never receiv'd the least benefit, or the least advantage, 
but, on the contrary, have felt sometimes the effects of 
malice and misfortune. 25 



A PROPOSITION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 

NOTES. 

Page i. 

The title-page to the first Edition of this 'Proposition' sets forth 
that it was published in London : * Printed by J. M. for Henry 
Heningman, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Blew 
Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange, 1661.' The 
publisher who signs himself P.P. says that he puts forth the book 
during the author's absence in France, and in his address he presents 
it to the ' Honourable Society for the Advancement of Experimental 
Philosophy.' 

5. mediate creattires. Defined in the next line as ' the creatures 
of God's creature man. ' We have to bear in mind that the sense 
of the 'L.2i\S.n creatura is 'anything created.' In English 'creature' 
has now become in a great measure restricted to living creatures. 
God's mediate creatures are all things fashioned or wrought out by 
the medium or means of man. 

7. humane. This is Cowley's constant orthography. We now 
distinguish two senses from the same Latin root hujjianus. ' Human' 
is that which concerns or belongs to man, as 'human life' 'human 
race' &c. 'humane' is confined to those tender and kindly feelings 
which ought to characterise the family of man. 

The orthography of this edition is that of the earliest published 
copies and it was thought at first that some principles of spelling 
might have been traced throughout, but there will be found a great 
degree of inconsistency. This however, as it in no case interferes 
with the comprehension of Cowley's sense, it has been decided to 
preserve, especially as some of the peculiarities are among the spel- 
ling reforms at present widely advocated, e.g. mixt for mixed, in line 
14, mist for missed p. 122, 1. 11, and many others. 

15. then. The distinction between 'then' as an adverb of time 
and 'than' as the adverbial form to follow the comparative degree 
was not strictly observed in Cowley's day, though 'then' after the 
comparative as here is not of frequent occurrence in his works. We 
find it however on page 2, line 24. Cf. also Sir Thomas Brown, 
Vulgar Errors iii. 25 : ' There was no sarcophagie before the 



1 88 NOTES. 

flood, and Mathout the eating of flesh, our fathers from vegetable 
aliments preserved themselves unto longer lives, then their posterity 
by any other.' 

Page i. 

30. Aristotle. The famous Greek philosopher, founder of the 
Peripatetic school. He was born at Stagira in Thrace about 384 B.C. 
and died in 322 B.C. 

Macrobius. Macrobius was a Latin writer who lived at the 
close of the 4th century a. D. His chief works were a commentary 
on Cicero's Dream of Scipio, in two books, and seven books of 
Saturnalia. In the former (Sonui. Sci/>. lib. i. Pontani ed. 1697) 
p. 28, he speaks of Hipjiocrates (the famous physician of Cos) as 
one 'qui tam fallere quam falii nescit.' 

Page 3. 

12. hundred years ago. We should now say 'hundreds of 
years ago.' 

14. liave been discovered. How much more would Cowley have 
used language like this had he lived in our day ! But in the many 
applications of steam, electricity, photography, &c. we are reaping 
fruits such as he saw, though but to a small extent, would result 
from the pursuit of science in the systematic manner which he 
advocated. Many 'terrae incognitae' have been discovered, and 
there is the certainty that many are still 'behind to exercise our 
diligence.' 

23. purchases. The original sense of 'purchase' was 'to 
procure,' 'to acquire,' by diligent effort, hence the noun here = 
acquisitions. The French pourchasser from which it comes to us 
has nothing of the meaning of 'buying for a price,' which is the 
usual sense of the word at present. So Wycliffe translates in i 
Pet. ii. 9, the l^^iiin populits acquisitionis , 'a people o{ ptcrchasying,'' 
of. Dryden, Palamon and Arcite bk. I, line 382, where speaking of 
the liberty granted to Arcite on the promise of Pirithous, 
'And who but Arcite mourns his bitter fate, 
Finds his Ao.zx purchase and repents too late.' 

30. sensible objects. The need for observation by the senses in 
addition to and in distinction from the contemplationby reason only, 
without experiment, is the great argument for Cowley's scheme. Cf. 
what he says in his ode on Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation: 

*Thus Harvey sought for truth in truth's own book, 
The creatures which by God himself was writ, 
And wisely thought 'twas fit 
Not to read comments only upon it. 
But on the original itself to look.' 

Page 4. 

4. commentating. We now say 'commenting' but still pre- 
serve the longer form in the noun 'commentators.' 



NOTES. 189 

9. abo7>e a thousand years. He intends to embrace the period 
anterior to Bacon, going back from 1600 A.D. to 600 a.d. 

J I. guns. Gunpowder seems to have been known in the 13th 
century and Roger Bacon, who died in 1-292 appears to have been 
acquainted with it. It was used in war at the battle of Crecy (1346) 
and it appears to have been employed at the siege of Algeziras by 
the Spaniards in 1343. 

print i Jig. Introduced into England by Caxton in 1471 but dis- 
covered in Germany and practised at Mainz by Gutenberg as early 
as 1457. 

15. abounded With excellent inventions. Cowley died in 1667. 
He is alluding here specially to the discoveries which had been 
made between Bacon's time and his own. Among these wei^e such 
discoveries as he mentions p. 8, line 11. 

24. his sacred Majesty. As the first edition was printed in i66r, 
the Monarch alluded to here is Charles II. The publisher of the 
'Proposition' says that Cowley had allowed him to make it public 
since his going into France. Cowley went to France immediately 
after Cromwell's death. 

Page 5. 

I. the. . .colledge be situated. The reason for this choice of position 
is seen pp. 10 — 1 1, where an arrangement for lectures once or twice 
a week is proposed to be given ' in the hours in the afternoon most 
convenient for auditors from London.' Cowley designed his College 
to be under the constant influence of the public eye and public 
opinion. The proximity to the river is also specified because in his 
day the journey could be best and soonest made by water. 

9. scholars., servants to the professors. The relation between 
student and tutor in former times much resembled that between 
servant and master. So too apprentices when bound to a trade, 
undertook while learning it, many household duties and services in 
no way appertaining to the craft which they were to be taught. Cf. 
on p. 92, 1. 22. 

10. a baily. We have now returned more nearly to the 
derivation of the word (which is from the low Latin ballivus), in 
spelling it bailiff. The sense is seen in the French 'bailler'= *to 
deliver,' 'put into the charge of any one.' So, Holland's Plutarch, 
fol. 812, sleep is called 'a false baily' because she takes half of life 
for herself. 

a manciple. From the Latin 'manceps' used specially of the 
officer who takes in hand the provisioning of a college or inn. Cf. 
Chaucer's Prologue, 569 : 

'A gentil manciple was there of a temple 
Of which achatours myghten take ensample 
For to ben wise in bying of vilaille.' 

13. a chirurgeon. From the Greek x^^po^Pyos, but through the 
French the hard consonant was softened and the word became 
cirurgion, and from that was contracted into surgeon. 

14. lungs, or chymical servants. In the Glossary to Ben Jonson 



ipo NOTES. 

we find 'Lnngs, a name given to an alchemist's servant... from his 
blowing the bellows of the furnace.' ' 

See The Alchemist ii. i. 28, where Sir Epicure Mammon 
speaking of Face, the alchemist's servant, says 

•That is his fire-drake, 
His Lungs, his Zephyrus, he that puffs his coals.' 

And later on in the same scene, line 141, 

^ Lungs, I will manumit thee from the furnace, 
I will restore thee thy complexion, Pufife, 
Lost in the embers, and repair this brain 
Hurt with the fumes o' the metals.' 
Bacon, in the same fanciful way, in his 'New Atlantis' had 
made 'the father of Solomon's house' say 'We have three that 
take care to direct new experiments. These we call lamps.'' 

17. beast. This word is often used in the singular form with a 
co'lective sense = cattle. Thus Judges xx. 48: 'They smote. ..as 
well the men of every city, as the beast and all that came to hand.' 

26. dlet^ i.e. food, as distinguished from the cost of lodging 
and other service. 

27. enter taintnent, the rest of their expenses. These two 
words represent what the Germans call 'kost und logis.' 

Page 6. 

14. operatories, i.e. rooms for the various operations which 
are to be carried on ; work or operating-rooms. We have the form 
in 'laboratories.' 

26. from leases. It was the custom to let trust-property on long 
leases, for the renewal of which a fine, sometimes of considerable 
amount was payable. It is to this occasional source of additional 
income that the allusion is made. 

Page 7. 

18. if he pretend, i.e. lay a claim, or make an application, for 
the place. The word often conveys a notion of the groundlessness 
of the claim. Hence unsuccessful claimants of thrones have been 
often styled pretenders. 

30. the Chartreux, i.e. the Carthusian monks. This order 
was founded in 1084 by St Bruno, who built an oratory and a cell 
on a mountain near Grenoble which subsequently was extended into 
the magnificent Benedictine convent known as La Grande Chartreuse. 
See also p. 49, 1. 30. 

31. lined. The sense is that all round this inner court or 
cloister shall run a gravel walk to form the outermost inclosure, 
then all along the inner side of the walk shall be the row of trees. 

Page 8. 

1 1 . the circulation of the blood. Discovered by William Harvey 
between 1619 and 1628. That the blood circulated through ihe 
lungs was known to Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician in 1553. 



NOTES. 191 

the milky veins, otherwise called the lacteals, were first noticed 
in 1622, by Caspar Asellius, professor of anatomy at Pavia. Further 
advance was made in the researches on this subject, in 1634 by 
Wesling, professor of anatomy at Venice, and the discovery was 
completed by Pecquet, a French physician and anatomist in 1647. 
These discoveries were very recent in i66r, when Cowley's 'Propo- 
sition' was published. 

12. elogies. (See also p. 12, 1. 19.) An ^/(^^'j properly signifies 
*a title or description' without any necessary connexion with praise 
Of compliment, but it is sometimes used as if equivalent to eulogy, 
i.e. a complimentary description. Cf. p. 95, 1. 6. 

13. portraidures. The latter part of the word is derived from 
the Latin traho, whose participle is tracius, and in the earlier English 
writers there is a tendency to preserve the 'c' of the original in this 
derivative. Thus North, Plutarch, ii. 49 has 'Artemisia, whose 
pom-traidure I do herewith present you.' 

28. lardry. The store-room for meat &c. So Holinshed, 
Hejiry III. (anno 1235), 'The citizens of Winchester had oversight 
of the kitchen and larderiei' 



Page 9. 

24. Solomon's house in my Lord Bacon. Solomon's house, or 
as it is otherwise named, 'The college of the six days' works,' is an 
order or society described in Bacon's ' New Atlantis.' The Utopian 
nature of the scheme, 'experiments that can never be experimented,' 
to which Cowley alludes, is seen in such matters as the provision of 
houses for imitating and demonstrating meteors, snow, hail and 
rain ; the growing of plants without seeds, and making one tree or 
plant turn into another, &c. all which things are set forth by 'the 
father of Solomon's house,' who among other matters says ' We 
imitate also flights of birds ; we have some degrees of flying in the 
air ; we have ships and boats for going under water.' 



Page 10. 

4. professors itinerate. We now use itinerajit in the sense of 
travelling. 

II. sitnples, i.e. herbs used for medicines. Cf. Browne, 
Britannia's Pastorals bk. 2, song 4: 

*0n every hillside and each vale he looks, 
If 'mongst their store of simples may be found 
An herb to draw and heal his smarting wound.' 

28. the factnre. Superseded now by 7na)tufacture. The word 
is not common, but is found in Bacon's Essay 'on Learning.' 
'There is no doubt but ihefadureox framing of the inward parts is 
as full of difference as the outward?' 

29. natural magick. 'A magician (according to the Persian 
word) is no other than divinoriim cnltor et i?iterpres, a studious 



192 NOTES. 

observer and expounder of divine things ; and the art itself (I mean 
the art of natural magick) no other than naturalis philosophicc 
absoluta consicnunatio, the absolute perfection of natural philosophy.' 
Ralegh, History of the Woi'ld, I. xi. 3. 

31. Loi'd Bacon s Organon. Bacon's work is entitled 'Novum 
Organum sive indicia vera de interpretatione naturoe.' The cata- 
logue of natural histories to which Cowley here alludes is a list of 
130 subjects into which natural science may be subdivided, and the 
history of which might form subjects of investigation. The first 40 
of these divisions relate to natural phenomena, the elements, and the 
vegetable and animal world, the rest to man and the circumstances 
in which he lives and the operations in which he is engaged. 

Page ri. 

14. take place, i.e. 'take precedence,' 'be at the head of.' 
arbitri diiariun mejisarmn, i.e. presidents of the two tables, at 

which it is appointed below (line 25) that the professors shall dine 
twice a week. 

18. double voice, i.e. he shall have two votes, or as is now com- 
monly arranged, he shall have a casting vote in the case of equality. 

21. if it be an extraordina)-}', i.e. an extraordinary order. 
The ordinary orders might be given by word of mouth, but this must 
be in writing. 

Page 12. 

15. that 7nay b^'ing in profit. Cowley's scheme was in time to 
be self-supporting from the profits of inventions. We see too from 
p. 10, 1. 15, that from time to time as the revenues improved the 
itinerant professors were to be better paid. 

20. deiiison. We now write denizen. The word is said to be 
Welsh. 

28. furnish, i.e. provide the money. Cf. Shaks. Timon, ill. i. 
20: 'My lord, having great and instant occasion to use fifty talents, 
hath sent to your lordship io furnish him.' 

Page 13. 

2. evinced. Demonstrated and proved to be errors, and so con- 
quered (Lat. vinco) and driven away, cf. Burton, Anatomy, p. 368 : 
'Arion made fishes follow him, which as common experience ^z//;/^^///, 
are much affected with music' 

8. triennial. Here used to signify ' during the course of three 
years.' The usual sense of the word now is * at the end of every 
three years.' 

34. fnnlct, a fine. The word is from the Italian fuultare, to 
fine. The verb is still in use but the noun is more rare. 

' A vnilct thy poverty could never pay. 
Had not eternal wisdom found the way.' 

Dryden, Rel. Paid, 104. 



NOTES. 193 



Page 14. 

10. every nion/h. Probably once a month was the usual rule 
for the administration of the Holy Communion in Cowley's day. 
Such incidental notices of the habits of the time are valuable, 
cf. p. 17, 1. 7. 

18. into six. Thus we see the 6 forms of a public school to 
have been the rule then. 



Page 15. 

1. so near concernment, i.e. of such great importance and 
value. Cf Jer. Taylor, Rule of Conscience, bk. I. ch. i. 'In things 
of great concernment we pray God to conduct and direct our 
choice. ' 

19. Varro. Marcus Terentius Varro, a Latin author, contem- 
porary with Cicero. His work here alluded to is entitled De re 
riistica. He was born R.c. 116 and died B.C. 28. 

Cato. M. Porcius Cato wrote a work also entitled De re rus- 
tica. He lived before Varro, dying B.C. 149. 

Cohimella. He was born at Cadiz, and flourished in the early 
part of the first century of the Christian era. He was one of the 
most voluminous Latin writers on rural matters. 

20. Pliny. C. Plinius Secundus, the famous author of the 
Historia Natnralis. Pie was born A. D. 22 and died A. D. 79. 

Celsus. A. Corn. Celsus lived in the reigns of Augustus and 
Tiberius. The work of his which i-emains is a treatise 'de 
medicina.' He is often alluded to by Columella. 

Seneca. Best known as the tutor of the Emperor Nero. But 
among his other works he produced 'Quaestionum naturalium libri 
septem,' which is the reason why he is included here in Cowley's 
list. He was put to death by order of Nero A. D. 65. 

22. Grotius. Hugo Grotius, a Dutch Statesman and Jurist, 
born in Delft a.d. 1583, died 1645. Among his works, which are 
numerous, the larger part however dealing with religious subjects, 
the only one which Cowley can have intended his philosophical 
students to read must have been the De jure belli et pads. 

Nemetiamis. M. Aurelius Nemetianus was a native of Africa, 
who lived in Italy about A. D. 243. He wrote on fishing, hunting 
and kindred subjects. Only portions of his works have been 
preserved to us. 

Manilins. The date of this writer is altogether uncertain. A 
work by him de Astrologia is all that remains, and its date has 
given rise to much discussion. 

25. indulging to. Where we now should say 'indulgent to.' 

29. parcels. The word was used in Cowley's day for a small 
portion of anything. Cf Shakespeare, Merry Wives, i. i. 237: 
'Divers philosophers hold that the lips \% parcel oi\\\Q mouth.' 

31. nniiseful. A rather uncommon form. 

L. C. \l 



194 NOTES. 



Page i5. 

7. Platitiis his. This mode of representing the possessive 
case in English was common in the r6th and 17th century writings. 
The idea was that the 's' of the possessive was a contraction lor 
the personal pronoun. This notion is however at once dispelled 
when we remember that 'Mary's' could not be a contraction for 
'Mary his.' We have instance of this form in the Prayer-book 
where the prayer 'For all sorts and conditions of men' concludes 
with the words 'for Jesus Christ his sake.' Cf. also 'Epicurus his 
philosophy,' p. 76, 1. 5, also ' Vitellius his table,' p. 126, 1. 17. 

10. Nicander. A Greek poet and physician who was born at 
Claros and flourished B.C. 135. He wrote a poem called 'Theriaca' 
on venomous animals, and the treatment of their wounds. 

Oppianus. A Greek writer at the close of the ^nd century cf 
the Christian era. He has left two poems, one on tishing, the other 
on hunting, and a prose work on hawking. 

Scaliger. Joseph Julius Scaliger, born 1540, died in Leyden 
(where he was Piofessor in the University) in 1609. He was a 
learned scholar, and devoted himself largely to criticism and correc- 
tion of classical texts. 

11. doubt, i.e. 'hesitate.' Cf. Spenser, F. Q. iv. i. 48: 

'Fond knight, said she, the thing that with this eye 
I saw, why should I doubt to tell the same?' 

13. Theophrastus. A Greek philosopher, born in Lesbos. 
He was a contemporary of Plato. The books of his to which 
Cowley here refers are two works on botany, and some fragments 
on fire, the winds and matters of meteorology. 

Dioscorides. The name of several Greek physicians, one of 
whom was at the court of Cleopatra, B.C. 41 — 30. Under his 
name we have a treatise which deals with the plants growing in 
Greece, which was most likely the work in Cowley's thoughts. 

16. Hermogenes. A Greek rhetorician A.D. 161 — i8o. His 
book on the 'Art of Rhetoric' teaches how to speak in courts of 
justice. It has been frequently edited and commented on. 

Longinus. Dionysius Cassius Longinus, a Greek philosopher 
who lived in the 3rd century of the Christian era. He has left 
among many other works a treatise on Rhetoric, and had such 
wide general knowledge that he was styled 'a living library.' 

i\. errors. An attempt had been made to disabuse the minds 
of men of such errors as are here alluded to by Sir Thomas Brown 
in his famous treatise on 'Vulgar Errors,' known also by the more 
learned-sounding title 'Pseudodoxia Epidemica.' As specimens 
of the errors with which he deals we may mention : ' That crystal 
is nothing else but ice strongly congealed : ' ' That a diamond is 
made soft or broke by the blood of a goat:' 'That a pot full of 
ashes will contain as much water as it would without them:' 'That 
an elephant has no joints:' 'That a wolf first seeing a man begets 
a dumbness in him:' 'That a salamander lives in the fire:' 'That 



NOTES. 195 

the flesh of peacocks corrupteth not:' 'That men weigh heavier 
dead than aUve, and before meat than after.' 

26. they should likewise tise^ i.e. 'practise.' Cf. Shakes. 
Troiliis, II. I. 52: 'If thou use to beat me, I will... tell what thou 
art.' 

28. travel. For which we now write ' travail ' = trouble, labour. 
The two forms are from the same root, P'rench ii'availler, cf. Beau- 
mont and Fletcher, Pilgrivi, Act I. 

'The saints ye kneel to hear and ease your travels' 

Page 17. 

I. scholars^ i.e. of the sixteen young scholars, servants to the 
professors (p. 5, 1. 8). Cowley uses scholars both for them and for 
the other pupils who are to have teaching in the College. 

3. learn to dance. Cowley is not the first poet who has 
commended dancing. Perhaps the best known laudation of it is 
the 'Orchestra' of Sir John Davies, which is in the form of a 
dialogue between Penelope and one of her wooers. 

7. days of devotion, i.e. fast and festival days appointed of 
the Church. See above on p. 14, 1. 10. 

16. expences. Apparently in the sense of 'means,' 'ability,' 
'what they were able to expend.' 

29. hospital-like. The word 'hospital,' at first applied to a 
place for the reception and entertainment of strangers, later on 
became restricted to houses for the poor or sick. So 'hospital- 
like' = meagre, poverty-stricken, pinched. 

Page 18. 

I. abused, led astray, misled. Cf. Shak. Cyjub. I. 4. 124: 'You 
are a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion.' 

15. explode. The original idea is 'to hiss a bad actor off the 
stage,' and hence, 'to drive away anything that is bad and false.' 
Cf. Milton, /^.Z. XI. 669; 

'Him old and young 
Exploded: 
See also below p. 48, 1. 31. 

16. false moneys. Cowley thus names any wrong opinions 
which have come to pass current for truth. We keep to the same 
metaphor in the expression 'pass current.' 

24. by the by, i. e. superadded, in addition to all other good 
effects. 

28. indifferently, 'impartially.' 'Judge of my life or death 
indifferently \ Spenser, F. Q. I. i. 51. 

Page 19. 

r. encounter zvith. In more modern English the preposition 
is omitted. But the full phrase is common in Shakespeare, cf. 
All's Well, 1. 3. 214: 'Let not your hate e?icounter zvith my love.' 

13--2 



196 NOTES. 

9. reliques. Cowley has a liking for this orthography, which 
connects it with the Latin 'rcliquiai' from which it conies. Cf. 
also p. 113, 1. 20. 



A DISCOURSE BY WAY OF VISION CONCER- 
NING THE GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER 
CROMWELL. 

Page 20. 

I. It was the funeral day. Cromwell was buried in West- 
minster Abbey on Monday, 22nd Nov. 1658. He had died on his 
lucky day, 3rd Sept., the anniversary of the victories of Dunbar 
and Worcester. Evelyn notices the funeral in his diary: 'Saw the 
superb funerall of the Protector. He was carried from Somerset 
House in a velvet bed of state drawn by six horses, houssed with 
the same : the pall held by his new Lords : Oliver lying in efhgie in 
royal robes, and crowned with a crown, sceptre and globe like a 
king. The pendants and guidons were carried by the officers of the 
army; the imperial banners, atchievements &c. by the herauldes in 
their coates; a rich caparisoned horse, embroidered all over with 
gold ; a knight of honour armed cap a pie, and after all, his guards, 
souldiers, and innumerable mourners. In this equipage they pro- 
ceeded to Westminster; but it was the joyfullest funeral I ever saw, 
for there were none that cried but dogs, which the souldiers hooted 
away with a barbarous noise, drinking and taking tobacco in the 
streets as they went.' 

3. little affection. In his 'verses upon His Majesty's Restaura- 
tion' Cowley speaks thus of Cromwell : 

'Where's now that ignis fatinis that ere while 
Misled our wandering isle? 
Where's the impostor Cromwell gone ? ' 

9. singular virtuosos. 'Virtuoso' is generally used of those 
persons who have skill in some special art. Here it would seem to 
mean those who had come to see the pageant out of curiosity. For 
the word cf. Glanvill, Essay 3, 'Another excellent virtuoso^ Mr 
John Evelyn, hath very considerably advanced the history of fruit 
and forest- trees.' 

10. the mount in Cornzuall, i.e. St Michael's Mount, the southern 
extremity of the land, and a little beyond it; just as the Oirades, 
the Orkneys, in the next line are a little past the northern limit of 
our islands. All were assembled, as it were from Dan to Beer- 
sheba. 

! 6. their brother'. Such being the style in which royal person- 
ages were spoken of by each other. Cf. i Kings xx. 32, 33. See 
also below p. 27, 1. 3, 'a brother to the gods of the earth.' 

17. the herse. The ornamented carriage to bear the coffin at a 



NOTES. 197 

funeral. Of the magnificence of the hearse on this occasion Evelyn's 
description bears witness. The word is now commonly spelt 
'hearse.' 

the idol. At royal funerals there was often borne in the proces- 
sion a figure or effigy of the dead on a bier, and some of these are 
still preserved in the Abbey at Westminster, though not often shewn 
to the public. This image (Gk. elboAov) is what Cowley refers to, 
which on this occasion wore a crown, though he whom it repre- 
sented had not done so. 

Page 21. 

3. metJioiights. A strange form, the 's' being due to the same 
letter at the end of 'methinks', but entirely without warrant in lan- 
guage. Cowley uses it in The Mistress, p. 1 1 : 

* But then, metJwitghts, there something shined within.' 

16. vision. In visions a higher degree of revelation was sup- 
posed to be imparted than in dreams., mentioned in the next line. 
Cf. Select Discoicrses of Johti Smith., p. 184: ' The Jews are wont to 
make a vision superior to a dream, as representing things more to 
the life.' 

18. father of poets, i.e. Homer. The allusion is to Iliad, I. 63: 
KoX yap r' ovap e'/c Aios eariv. 'For indeed a vision comes from 
Zeus.' 

22. like St Paid. The allusion, which perhaps a very reverent 
taste would have dispensed with, is to 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3. That 
Cowley meant to be very reverent in all his employment of Scrip- 
tural language we see from p. 132, 1. 30. 

23' fatuous hill in the island of Mona, i.e. Snowfield in the 
Isle of Man, which island is called Mona by Caesar {Bell. Gall. v. 

13). 

28. these tiventy years. Meaning the time of Cromwell's power, 
and the troublous years by which it was preceded, going back to the 
days of the 'Solemn League and Covenant.' Cf. p. 25, 1. 4. The 
civil war dates from 1641. 

30. a sighing. The a thus used before the gerundive is a 
corruption of the preposition on. Cf. Shakes. Romeo, ill. i. 194: 
'My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding * 

Page 22. 

3. forsook. For forsaken.^ Cf. Shakes. Othello, iv. 2. 125: 
'Hath i\\e. forsook so many noble matches.' 

24. turned only into noise. The 'face and substance' to which 
Cowley alludes in these lines was the regular appointed order of 
prayer; whereas, during the Conuiionwealth, the Prayer-book was 
superseded by the 'Directory for Publique Worship,' which left 
much to the discretion of the minister. This our author compares 
to a real personality being turned into mere noise. 

Page 23. 
6. will hardly be, i.e. that will hardly be. 



198 NOTES. 

lo. BeiUam. A corrupted form of Bethlehem, the name of the 
hospital in London devoted to the treatment of the insane. See p. 
154, 1. 10. 

14. barbarous Britons. Alluding to the custom of the early 
inhabitants of this island to paint their bodies with woad. There is 
another allusion to the practice on p. 14. 1. 24. 

22. French inconstancie. The ticldeness of the Gallic race has 
long been proverbial. Csesar, B, G. 11. i, speaks of their mobilitas 
et lev it as anivii. 

Page 24. 

4. threat. For 'threaten.' Used only in verse and as a present 
tense. Cf. Shakespeare, Macbeth, I J. i. 60: 

'Whiles I threat, he lives.' 

13. the royal martyr'' s prayer. There is a prayer at the close 
of each section of the ' Eikon Basilike,^ a work long supposed to be 
the composition of King Charles I., and by some still thought to be 
so. There are also, appended to the book, four private prayers 
used by his Majesty in the time of his sufferings. 

16. his blond beloiv. This would cry for vengeance, and for 
this the soul of the king is supposed not to pray, but only for bless- 
ings on the land. 

21. in the cvcnin^^, i.e. when shadows would be longest. 

27. the battel 0/ Naseby. This, which was the most fatal battle 
to the cause of the Royalists, might be expected to be prominently 
depicted on the body of such a being as this 'strange and terrible 
apparition' turns out to be. Naseby was fought on 15 June, 1645, 
and from that time the death of Charles seems to have begun to form 
a part of the plans of Cromwell. 

29. gnest, i.e. guessed. Cowley uses largely, but with much 
inconsistency, these forms of the preterite in 't' for 'ed.' Here the 
form appears the stranger by reason of the omission of one 's' from 
the root. 

Page 25. 

2. i.e. * Peace is sought by war. ' 

4. Acts, Ordinances. Enactments of the nature here described 
under various titles were multiplied during the period of the Com- 
monwealth. 

7. qnelled, i.e. 'quailed,' 'terrified.' The original sense of 
the word is 'to kill.' So by Shakespeare (2 Hen. IV. 11. i. 58) 
murderers are called 'manquellers.' For the sense in the text, cf. 
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, Ixxvi. i, 

•If number English courages could quell.* 

II. nortli-ioest principality. That being the quarter in which 
Great P)ritain lies in respect of the other countries of Europe. 

26. Richard III., brother to Edward IV., and therefore uncle to 
Edward V. and his brother the Duke of York, whom he caused to 
be murdered in the Tower. 

27. he presently sleiu the commojnvealth. This has reference to 



NOTES. 199 

the way in which Cromwell, finding the Long Parliament not so 
obedient to him as he expected, dissolved it in conjunction with his 
council of officers (April 20, 1653). Cf. p. 26, 1. 25, 'to trample 
upon them too &c. ' 

30. did but f?iu}-der a inurderer. For the Parliament had 
already put to death the King. 

33. Turk. This word was used as the impersonation of the 
worst of enemies. Even such a one however, if his purpose had 
been understood and constant, would have been better than Cromwell 
with his perpetual changes. 

Page 26. 

5. use, i.e. are wont. See below, p. 50, I. 29, and p. 86, 1. 19, 
and cf. Shakes. 2 Henry IV. v. 2. 114, 

'The unstained sword which you have used to bear.' 
7. jealotisie, i.e. suspicion that he was not the angel he 
professed to be. 

9. forreign correspondences. Cromwell's influence abroad was 
veiy great. He was in the closest correspondence with France, 
Christina queen of Sweden esteemed him highly, he exercised 
great influence over the Dutch, and his friendship was sought after 
by the Spaniards. Bp. Warburton compares him to Julius Csesar. 
See below on p. 27, 1. 14. 

Page 27. 

6. a new arid unheard-of monster. This was the Parliament 
which assembled on July 4th, 1653. ^^ was nominated by Cromwell, 
as Lord General, and his council of war, and was intended to consist 
exclusively of men distinguished by holiness of life and piety of con- 
versation. The Ministers of the Congregational Churches sent in 
lists of men 'faithful, fearing God, and hating covetousness, ' and 
from these lists Cromwell made choice of about 150 members. As 
there was no pretence of any election Cowley calls this gathering *a 
new and unheard-of monster.' 

7. stifle that in the very infancy. The innovations proposed 
by the Bareljones' parliament, as the new and unheard-of monster 
was called, were so startling, including the abolition of the court of 
Chancery, the repeal of all the old laws, and the formation of a new 
and simple code, &c. that Cromwell soon found he had mistaken his 
instruments, and the military council resolved that these troublesome 
legislators should be sent l)ack to their parishes. Thus the govern- 
ment came entirely into the hands of the Lord General and his 
officers. This was on 12th Dec. 1653, and four days afterwards 
Cromwell was installed as 'Lord Protector.' The large powers 
given to the Protector by the 'Instrument of Government' are 
alluded to in the next line. 

12. each corner of the three nations. That England was com- 
pletely sul)servieut to him is manifest from what has been just said 
in the previous notes. In Ireland he had taken Drogheda, Wexford 
had been betrayed to him, as also Cork, and his command had been 



206 NOTES. 

so suceessful that when he was sent for by the parliament, he could 
leave Ireton as his deputy. Scotland was entirely broken after the 
battle of Dunbar, and there Monk was left as Cromwell's representa- 
tive. 

14. feared and courted by all for reign princes. On this cf. 
Clarendon, XV. 152. who says among other things : " His greatness 
at home Avas but a shadow of the glory he had aljroad. It was hard 
to discover which feared him most, P'rance, Spain or the Low 
Countries, where his friendship was current at the value he put upon 
it. And as they did all sacrifice their honour and their interest to 
his pleasure, so there is nothing he could have demanded, that 
either of them would have denied him." 

19. hoo 7>iillions a year. This alludes to the 'Humble petition 
and advice' by which there was assigned to the Protector a million a 
year as a perpetual revenue for the pay of the army and the fleet and 
;/^300.ooo for the support of the civil government. Other funds had 
previously been assigned to him by the 'Instrument of Oovernment.' 

25. to bequeath all this with one tvord to his posterity. Cf. 
Clarendon XV. 146: "He did not think he should die till even the 
time that his spirits failed him, and then he declared that he did 
appoint his son to succeed him, his eldest son Richard." 

Page 28. 

I. what kind of angel. Cf. p. 30, 1. 2, *to give even the devil 
(as they say) his right.' 

II. by an angel. The allusion is probably to Gal. i. 8. So 
the words ' Christ forbids' must be taken as signifying 'Christ in the 
person of His apostle St Paul.' 

12. rather to try than to tempt, i.e. to test rather than to lead 
astray. 

25. taxes of scarce ttvo hundred thousand pounds a year. The 
whole revenue of Charles I. was ;^<Soo,ooo, of these little more 
than a quarter appear to have been of the nature of taxation. 

27. the loss of three or four ears. Alluding to the mutilation 
suffered under Charles I. by Prynne, Bastwick, Leighton and Burton. 
Another allusion to this matter is on p. 57, 1. \. 

29. I knorv not zuhat two thousand guards. ' I know not what' 
is the Latin 'nescio quid,' and is used to indicate some vague 
imaginary idea. On the King's determination to have a guard 
about his person, see Clarendon v. 140. 

Page 29. 

I. even to the very skin. On the way in which the Church and 
the clergy were dealt with by the puritanical party, see Clarendoii, 
V. 135, 136. x\lso Evelyn is constant in his lamentations on this 
subject during the M'hole time of the Commonwealth. Cf. his 
entry for March 18, 164^: 'Mr Owen a sequestered and learned 
minister preached in my parlour and gave us the blessed Sacrament, 
now wholly out of use in the parish Churches, on which the 
Presbyterians and fanatics had usurped.' 



NOTES. 20I 

3. councils of rapine^ and courts of murder. Alluding to such 
courts as 'the high court of justice' of 1654; of which Clarendon 
(xiv. 35) says, 'A high court of justice was erected to try criminals, 
which rarely absolved any man who was brought before them.' A 
little later on he speaks of it as a tribunal which was 'continued to 
root out all who had adhered to the King.' 

15. his ozvn general. General Lambert was second in command, 
but first in the affections of the army. He aided Cromwell in 
becoming Protector, but Cromwell afterwards became jealous of him, 
and turned him out of the army. 

24. as St Paul says, i Cor. viii. 4. 

26. the valley of llinnoni. A valley on the southern side of 
Mount Zion, which opens out into the valley of the Kidron. It was 
the place where sacrifices were offered to Moloch. Hence Cromwell 
is called in the next line 'his Molochship.' The place is mentioned 
in Josh. XV. 8, and its Hebrew name 'Ge-Hinnom' has been modified 
into the Greek '^e^vva, which became the type of hell (Matth. v. ■22). 

27. bozvels of vicji. Clarendon, xv. 102, says, 'Colonel Ashton, 
Stacy and Betteley...were treated wnth more severity, and were 
hanged, drawn and quartered, with the utmost rigour, in several 
great streets in the city, to make the deeper impression upon the 
people, the two last being citizens. But all men appeared so nauseated 
with blood, and so tired with those abominable spectacles that Crom- 
vrell thought it best to pardon the rest who were condemned, or 
rather to reprieve them.' These are the circumstances to which 
Cowley alludes under the figure of the ' valley of Hinnom. ' 



Page 30. 

16. the most ant lent of the heathen divines. He thus styles 
Homer. The quotation which follows is from Odyss. xxii. 412. 

22. a person %vho 7vas proud. Here his highness, the angel, 
makes a slip. The words are really addressed to Euryclea, the 
aged attendant on Penelope, when she was about to indulge in 
exultation over the slaughter of the suitors. 



Page 31. 

15. a Lambert. After Cromwell's death. General Lambert was 
regarded as likely to make a party in the army which should 
depend upon him rather than the parliament. It was known that 
he had aided the late Protector in his advance to power, on the 
understanding that he should succeed him. It is to the probability 
of such a future that Cowley here alludes. On the whole of 
Lambert's actions and aims see Clarendon, xvi. 78, seqq. 

18. Syratusians, i.e. ' Syracusans.' The allusion is to those 
proceedings which followed the success of Timoleon. When all 
the tyrants were expelled from Sicily and the free towns had 
submitted to the Syracusan alliance, the citadel and town of Ortygia 
were demolished, and every fortress destroyed in which a tyrant 



202 NOTES. 

could be likely to defend himself. Commissioners were sent for 
from Corinth to revise the ancient laws of the Syracusan consti- 
tution, and the new constitution appears to have been reduced to a 
very simple form. 

'To implead' is 'to bring an action at law', and the Syracusans 
thus legally did their best to efface the records of the preceding 
tyrannies. 

■27. moiiientaiiy. We now only use 'momentary' but the form 
in the text is in accord with the Latin, which has both 'momen- 
tarius' and 'momentaneus.' 

32. Marins or Sylla. Caius Marius, the celebrated Roman 
leader in the war against Jugurtha. His acts of despotic violence 
we"e committed after he with Cinna had blockaded Rome and be- 
come masters of it. There was then carried out a general massacre 
of the patrician party who had opposed Cinna and Marius. Marius 
died in the following year B.C. 86. 

Sylla, i.e. Lucius Coi^nelius Sulla, who for some time was 
legate to Marius. The latter was disgusted at the popularity oi 
Sulla, and when that commander was entrusted with the leadership 
in the Mithridatic war, Marius used every effort to wrest it from him, 
and it was in Sulla's absence that the blockade of Rome just men- 
tioned was carried on, after which Marius and Cinna made them 
selves consuls. On Sulla's return, after having made peace with 
Mithridates, his great aim was to annihilate the popular party, which 
had supported his adversaries. This he did by wholesale banish- 
ment, and heavy fines, and in B.C. Sa he caused himself to be made 
dictator. These are the acts for which Cowley mentions him as a 
parallel to Cromwell. 

Page 32. 

3. curst on. Here 011 denotes continuity. Let him be cursed 
without ceasing. Cf. Shakespeare, Tzuo Gent. ii. 3. 29, 'He 
weeps on.'' Much Ado, 'Benedick, love on.'' 

13. the son of earth, i.e. the giant Biiareus, who in the fable of 
the war of the Titans against the Gods is said to have helped the Gods. 
The Titans piled the three mountains Pelion, Ossa and Olympus 
one upon another, that they might be able to scale heaven, but their 
rebellion was defeated by Jove's thunderbolts. The poet's mythology 
has ranged Briareus on the wrong side. 

24. a basilisk he grows, if once he gets a crown. Cf. Shakespeare, 
yul. Cics. 11. I. 12 : 

' He would be crown'd : — 
How that might change his nature, there's the question, 
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, 
And that craves Avary walking.' 

Page 7^1. 

r. no guards can oppose assaulting fears. Cf. Gray, TJu 
Bard, 1.5: 



NOTES. 203 

'Helm nor hauberk's twisted mail, 
Nor e'en thy virtues, Tyrant, will avail 
To save thy secret soul from nightly fears.' 

16. darkness to be felt. Alluding to the Egyptian plague, 
Exod. X. ■21. 

19. croaking sects. The nasal tones in which the sectaries of the 
period gave utterance to their teaching form the subject of much 
ridicule in the writings of this period, cf. Butler, Hudibras, pt, I. 
canto I : 

'This light inspires and plays upon 
The nose of saint like bagpipe drone.' 

Page 34. 

I. the eleventh plague. Egypt felt the terrors of ten, but the 
poet invites another, whatever it may be, to clear the land of this 
infection. Nothing could be worse than what they now suffer. 

4. God^s sword, i.e. pestilence. This was sent to Israel when 
David chose rather to fall into the hand of God, than into the hand 
of man. 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. 

II. some denouncing Jonas . On Jonah's message to Nineveh 
and its effect, see Jonah iii. 4 — 10. 

ig. in the enclosures of metre. Where by reason of the labour 
of versifying, you must the sooner be forced to stop. The verse is 
enclosed each line by its proper rhyme. 

■23. sciomachy. From the Greek (r/ctci, a shadow, and frnxofxai, 
to fight = a fighting with shadows. The speaker hints that all this 
wordy battle has been fought groundlessly, that there was no reason 
or warrant for it. 

27. fievans pater ='d.\^ir\g father.' Supposed, as it seems, in 
Cowley's day, to be the origin and sense of the name Jupiter. 

Page 35. 

23. containing themselves = xe?,\.x^.\m\\g themselves. Cf. Shake- 
speare, Troilus V. 2. 180: ' (? contain yourself your passion draws 
ears hither.' 

Page 36. 

16. that patent of their destiny. The book of fate, in which is 
written down what shall befall each man, but which is mercifully 
hidden from view. 

20. Lord Strafford. Made Eord Deputy of Ireland in 163 1 and 
Lord Lieutenant in 1639. This title had not been used since the time 
of Essex. Strafford was beheaded on Tower-Hill 12 May, 1641. 

Page 37. 

5. the confusions of a civil 7var. Which beginning in 1641 had 
continued till the execution of Charles I. 



204 NOTES. 

■29. Rovian virtue. Used in the original sense of the Latin 
* virtus'' = ' prowess,' ' valour.' 

Page 38. 

19. banditos. The Italian form of this word, or something near 
it, prevailed for a time in English, as it does in the plural banditti, 
still. The word means 'declared {dictus) or placed under a ^c;/.' 
Cf. Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. iv. i, 

*A Roman sworder and bandetto slave 
Murdered sweet Tully.' 

Page 39. 

23. Did 7i'e furnish him etc. This sentence is not very clear, 
but to judge by the context the contrast is between 'our enemies' 
and 'his friends.' The latter is equivalent to 'ourselves.' The 
previous sentence says 'Are we conquered by him whom we 
employed to conquer our foes?' 'J'his seems to mean 'Did we arm 
him against our enemies, and has he on the contrary plunged the 
weapons we gave him into our own bowels?' So that 'and keep 
them' = 'and did he keep them?' 

Page 42. 

r. ^ and tre}nhled\ i.e. 'and that he trembled.' The sentence 
is not strictly grammatical, but the sense is clear. 

5. Rode caper vitein. The quotation is from Ovid, Fasti i. 357, 
and the passage, an address to a goat nibbling at the vines, tells how, 
for all that, there will be wine enough left to pour over the victim 
when the goat is sacrificed. 

18. canow. The spelling of this word varies. We find canoa, 
canow, and cannozve. The derivation is said to be from canna, a 
reed. Cf. Browne, Britannia^ s Pastorals, bk. i. st. 2 : 

'Unto the rougher stream, the cruel swain 
Hurries the shepherdess, where having lain 
Her in a boat like the cannozves of Inde, 
Some seely trough of wood, or some tree's rind, 
Puts from the shore.' 

30. foolish daughters in the fable. The legend in the Greek 
mythology is that Medea desiring to be avenged on Pelias for the 
murder of ^son, the father of her husband Jason, persuaded his 
daughters to cut Pelias their father in pieces, and boil the parts, 
asserting that thereby they would restore him to youth and vigour, as 
she had before changed a ram into a lamb by boiling the dissected 
parts of its body in a cauldron. 

Page 43. 

12. syllogism. A syllogism is an argument stated at full length. 
Thus stated it contains three propositions, the major, the minor, and 
the conclusion. In the syllogism of the text tliese would be : 



NOTES. 205 

He who has the l^est parts in a nation ought to be king. 
O.C. has the Vjest ]iarts in the nation, 
Therefore O.C. ought to be king. 

17. t7V0 branches of the same family. As in the wars of the 
Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster. 

23. i.e. ' By our misery thou art Great. ' The words are found 
in Cicero, Ad Alt. II. 19. 3, with the whole story of their repetition 
by the actor in whose part they came. 



Page 44. 

17. Jack of the clock-house. A Httle figure of a man, which is 
placed outside some pubHc clocks to strike the quarters. One was 
formerly to be seen on the church of St Dunstan's, Fleet Street. 
Cf. Cotgrave's Dictionary s.v. Jaquelet. See also Shakespeare, 
Kichd. II. V. 5. 60 : 

'My tim.e 
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy 
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.'' 
Cf. Jiichd. III. IV. 2. 

27. The quotation is from Hor, Odes, III. 29. In the original 
Cetera is the reading, not o//inia in the first line. Francis renders 
the lines : 

'The rest is all beyond our power. 

And like the changeful Tiber flows, 
Who now beneath his banks subsides. 
And peaceful to his native ocean glides.. 
But when descends a sudden shower, 
And wild provokes his silent flood, 
The mountains hear the torrent roar, 

And echoes shake the neighbouring wood : 
Then swoln with rage he sweeps away 
Uprooted trees, herds, dwellings to the sea.' 

Page 45. 

12. a beardless boy. Caius Octavius, afterwards the emperor 
Augustus. The allusion in Cowley's text is to the events which 
immediately followed the murder of Julius Caesar, by whom Octavius 
had been adopted. On hearmg what had occurred at Rome, he 
went thither from Illyricum and demanded the property which 
Caesar had left him. Antony had in his possession the money and 
papers of Caesar and refused to give them up. This was one 
dithculty, and Dec. Brutus (one of Caesar's assassins), who was in 
possession of Cisalpine Gaul, was also an adversary to Octavius and 
wished to prevent his succeeding to Caesar's property and influence. 
Octavius however had the favour of the army, and when Cicero saw 
the troops largely siding with him he changed from opponent to 
supporter, believing that Octavius alone could save the reput)lic. 
By a series of bold strokes Octavius first defeated Antony at Mutina, 



2o6 NOTES. 

then obtained for himself the Consulship, secured Caesar's property, 
and made himself popular by distril)uting the money he had left to 
the people. Then reconciled to Antony and uniting with Lepidus 
(Dec. Brutus had already been murdered at Aquileia by order of 
Antony) the three agreed that Octavius shcjuld lay down the Consul- 
ship, and that the empire should be divided among them under the 
title of trill })ivii-i. At Philippi, B.C. 42, Octavius and Antony 
defeated M. Junius Brutus and C. Cassius, by whose death two 
powerful opponents were removed. Subsequently Octavius gained 
for himself the power assigned to Lepidus, while Antony, through 
his infatuation for Cleopatra, became regarded by the Romans as an 
enemy of the republic. War was declared against him and he was 
defeated at Actium B.C. 31. After this Octavius (named Augustus 
by the senate and people) was appointed imperator for ever. 

13. a voluptuous juadnian. Mark Antony. Octavius because 
of a dream of his physician quitted his tent where he was sick and 
so saved his life, and took part in the battle of Philippi, which as 
is said in the text gained him the empire of the world. The defeat 
at Philippi, which was followed by the death of Cassius, was owing 
to a mistake which that general fell into by reason of his shortness 
of sight. To these matters the allusions in the lines immediately 
following relate. 

22. Cj'nis. That Persian king, by whom, after his conquest 
of Babylon, the Jews were sent back to their own land at the end of 
the 70 years captivity. Babylon was taken by him B.C. 538. 

Alexander. Known as ' the Great.' Son of Philip of Macedon, 
born B.C. 356, died b.c 323. 

23. Scipio and his cotitemporaries. This is Publius Cornelius 
Scipio Africanus, who was so distinguished in the third Punic war, 
and by whom Carthage was taken B.C. 146. Among his contempo- 
raries were the aged Cato, Lrelius and Polybius. 

30. pleased to call him. The reference is to Isaiah xliv. 28, 
'That saith of Cyrus, Pie is my shepherd,' and in Isaiah xlv. i, 
'Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I 
have holden.' Cf. also 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22 and the identical passage 
Ezra i. I. 

32. Massenellos Masaniello (a name corruptly formed from 
Tommaso Aniello) was a young fisherman at Naples towards the 
middle of the 17th century, by whose efforts the taxes on fruit and 
vegetables imposed at Naples by the duke d'Arcos were abolished. 
After the success of his insurrection Masaniello went mad, and was 
afterwards shot while confined in one of the convents where he had 
been brought in consequence of the excitement caused by his 
incoherent harangues. 

33. Johns of Leylen. John Bockold, known as John of 
Leyden, was a chief man in the Anabaptist revolution in Westphalia 
in the earlier half of the sixteenth century. Pie, with others, was 
executed and their bodies exposed in iron cages at the summit of 
one of the church towers in Mimster. 



NOTES. 207 



Page 46. 

CO. tintcmpcyed mortars. I'ho allusion is to Ezck. xiii. 10. 
Tlie whole passage is full of scriptural allusion, and the zeal of the 
Koyalist borders somewhat on profanity in the words which he 
applies to the Restoration of the Royal family. 

25. chargeable^ 'costly, expensive,' of. Hooker, Ecd. Pol. v, 15: 
'Suppose we that God himself delighteth to dwell sumptuously or 
taketh pleasure in chargeable pomp? ' 

Page 47. 

5. thi-ee millions a year. Cowley has dwelt before on the 
greater burden to the nation during the Commonwealth period than 
at any time during the reign of Charles I. See p. 28. 

1 4. Jive children. The children of Charles I. were ( i ) Charles II. 
afterwards king, {2) Mary, who married Prince William of Nassau, 
and was mother of William III., (3) James II., who also reigned, 
(4) Henry Duke of Gloucester who died in 1660, (5) Elizabeth, 
who died in 1649, (^) Henrietta, who married Philip Duke of 
Orleans. There were therefore yfz'^ living when Cowley wrote. 

19. as great dangeis. The queen of Charles I. and her children 
also were reduced to great straits during the time of the civil war. 
On one occasion the queen was compelled to sell her plate to supply 
her wants, and was obliged to leave the kingdom and take refuge 
in France. 

Page 48. 

8. That little in print. At this time all that could be in print of 
Cromwell s must have been only the speeches which he had made 
on various occasions, which had the reputation of being exceedingly 
prolix. 

16. intellectuals, i.e. his intellectual powers. The use of the 
adjective in a plural form instead of a noun remains in ' morals ' (see 
line 17), Imt 'intellectuals' has become obsolete. Wood {Ath. Ox.) 
says ot Philemon Holland, ' His intellectnals and his senses remained 
perfect until the 84th year of his age.' Cf. also Naunton's A'egalia, 
pp. 15, 60. 

31. explode. See above on p. 18, 1. 15. 

Page 49. 

31. Chaj-treux. See on p. 7, 1. 30. 

34. Uarnni. For 'alarum.' A similar aphneresis is seen in 
'prentice' for 'apprentice' and in the old form of 'potticary' for 
'apothecary.' 

Page 50. 

5. Faux, i.e. Guy Fawkes, the well-known conspirator in 
the reign of James I. 



2o8 NOTES. 

•29. use, i.e. 'are wont.' Cf. for this sense of the word, 
Ps. cxix. 132, *As thou tisest to do unto those that love thy name.' 
See also above, p. 26, 1. 5, and p. 47, 1. 27. 



Page 51. 

3. Nero to kill his mother. Agrippina, Nero's mother, through 
whose instrumentality he had become emperor, was murdered by 
lier son, partly because she made an effort to obtain the management 
of public affairs, and partly at the instigation of Poppaea, who hoped 
after Agrippina was removed to become the wife of the emperor. 

9. wanted... that courage. Nero attempted to commit suicide, 
and at last was put to death at his own request by one of his atten- 
dants. 

23. a sin that is called like it in the Scriptures, i Sam. xv. 23, 
' Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.' 



Page 52. 

3. a peace unth onr brethren of Holland. It has generally been 
asserted that Cromwell, in his negotiations with the Dutch, instead 
of securing for England the commercial advantages, which he was 
entitled, after Blake's victories, to demand, sacrificed the glories of 
the navy to an impatience for peace, or to the furtherance of his own 
views against the Stuarts and the House of Orange. 

4. first... that God chastised. The Dutch were the first people 
affected by the legislation of the Parliament in the Act of Navigation 
(1652), an ordinance which totally suppressed their trade. At that 
time they were (as the English are now) the carriers for all nations. 

6. abetting our troubles, i.e. augmenting and making worse. 

16. Beat lis pacifictis, i.e. Blessed peace-maker. The words 
are from the Vulgate, Matth. v. 9. 

17. carrying a tvar two thousand miles off, zvestivards. That is, 
the expedition to the West Indies under Penn and Venables. 

18. vails. Money given in consideration of service, presents to 
servants. Cf. Shakespeare, Pericles, li. i. 157, 'There are certain 
condolements, certain vails.' On the tzvo millions a year mentioned 
in this line see above on p. 28, 1. 27, and p. 47, 1. 5, where Cowley 
says three millions. In this latter sum he must include the vails. 

23. Anti-Solomon. So styled because he did the opposite of 
Solomon, who made gold as abundant as silver had been in the 
times before him. See i Kings x. 21, 27. 

26. his fantastical Ophir, i.e. the West Indies, which he 
fancied would be to him what Ophir was to Solomon. On ' fantas- 
tical,' cf. Shak. Macbeth, I. 3. 139, ' Whose murder yet is h\x\. fantas- 
tical^' i.e. a matter of imagination and no reality. 

28. the Faiistus. Sylla had a son named Faustus. The name 
signifies 'prosperous,' 'blessed.' Hence the words of the text. 

Sylla. See above on p. 31, 1. 32. 



NOTES. 209 



Page 53. 

5. this ignominy. At St Domingo the English soldiers and 
sailors were destroyed by the climate and by the fury of the natives, 
who concealed themselves in the woods where the European troops 
could not follow them. See below, line 22. 

6. yamaica. Foiled in their attempt on Hispaniola, the com- 
manders directed their course to Jamaica, which surrendered to 
them without a blow. It is the boasting about such a capture that 
Cowley here ridicules. In Cowley's time nobody foresaw the im- 
portance of Jamaica. 

10. the war with Spain. The Spaniards declared war because 
a positive treaty had been broken by the proceedings in the West 
Indies. 

14. the silver fleet. These were the treasure ships of Spain that 
were on their way to Europe. These Blake attacked and captured, 
and the silver was displayed publicly that the English people might 
be satisfied with some results of the war, though Penn and Venables 
had been so little fortunate in the West Indies. 

17. twelve hundred of her ships. It is said that 1500 merchant 
vessels of England were captured by the Spaniards, and thus the 
impolicy of the Protector's conduct made itself severely felt in all the 
trading towns on the English coast. 

21. Dunkirk. This town, valuable to the English as a seaport 
on the French coast, a point for easy communication in peace, and 
still more convenient if war should break out, was the price for which 
Cromwell stipulated in helping France against Spain. 

34. a greater kingdom than itself. Alluding to the conquests 
made in France in the times of Edward III. and Henry V. 

Page 54. 

17. decimation. This was an ordinance published by the Pro- 
tector in 1665 that all who had ever borne arms for the king should 
pay a tenth part of all the estates they had left to support the 
charges of the Commonwealth. On the way in which it was carried 
out by the Major-generals, see Thurloe, vol. iv. passion. 

24. a zvhole book. This book is probably that which was 
written at Cologne, perhaps by Sir Edw. Hyde, at the king's com- 
mand. Clarendon, Hist, of Rebellion, xi v. 1 5 1 says : ' This declaration 
[the decimating ordinance] v/as quickly sent to Cologne, where the 
king caused such an answer to be made to it... that it obliged all the 
nation to look upon him [Cromwell] as a detestable enemy, who was 
to be removed by any way that offered itself: many of which argu- 
ments were made use of against him in the next parliament that he 
called.' 

31. the calling in and establishment of the Jezvs. After having 
been banished from England nearly 4 centuries the Jews were re-ad- 
mitted by Cromwell in 1652, in virtue of a treaty with INIanasseh 
ben- Israel. 

L. C. I A 



2IO NOTES. 



Page 55. 

2. he invented, i.e. had a design. Almost equivalent to in- 
tended. 

3. Trovr]p6v and Trovrjpos, i.e. wicked scheme and wicked per- 
son. 

10. S. Peter's. To this Saint the abbey of Westminster is 
dedicated. 

11. a viosqiiito. We have now only the form 'mosque,' for the 
Turkish place of worship. The form in the text is nearly like the 
Spanish viosqnita, which has remained in their language from the 
Moorish occupation. Donne, Satire 4, writes : 

'Would not Heraclitus laugh to see jNIacrine, 
From hat to shoe himself at dore refine, 
As if the presence were a vioschite'i 

where the pronunciation must be trisyllabic as in our text. 

14. heathenish way of the Conwion-prayer-book. Cf. Twell's 
Life of Poeock. Pocock was Hebrew professor at Oxford, and in the 
proceedings taken against him it was charged, among other things, 
' that he had frequently made use of the idolatrous Common Prayer 
Book as he performed divine Service.' The ' Directory for Publique 
Worship' was the book sanctioned by the Assembly of Divines. vSee 
on p. 22, 1. 25. 

21. moss-troopers. A name originally given to those banditti 
who inhabited the marshy country of Liddesdale, and subsisted 
chiefly by rapine. Fuller says of them, 'they are called fnoss- 
troopcrs because dwelling in the mosses and riding in troops together. 
They dwell in the bounds or meeting of two kingdoms, but obey the 
laws of neither.' 

25. Mr Coney. Of the proceedings here alluded to Clarendon 
(xv. 150) says: 'When Cromwell had laid some very extraordinary 
tax upon the city, one Cony, an eminent fanatic... positively refused 
to pay his part. Cromwell sent for him and cajoled him with the 
memory of the old kindness and friendship that had been between 
them. But... this man remembered him how great an enemy he had 
expressed himself to such grievances, and declared that all who sub- 
mitted to them were more to blame and greater enemies to their 
country, than they who imposed them, and that the tyranny of 
princes could never be grievous but by the tameness and stupidity of 
the people.' The narrative goes on to say that Cromwell at last 
committed Mr Coney to prison, and when Maynard, his counsel, 
demanded his liberty, the Protector's attorney delayed the proceed- 
ings and in the meantime Maynard was put in the Tower, and the 
judges censured for suffering him to question or make doubt of the 
Protector's authority. It was on this occasion that Cromwell is said 
to have spoken those words about Magna Charta, alluded to below, 

p. 57.1- 31- 

34. ship-money. The tax for providing shipping, levied at first 

on seaboard counties and afterwards extended to the whole kingdom 



NOTES. 211 

by Charles I. Mr Hampden's refusal to pay was one of the first 
stages of the Rebellion. 

Page 56. 

16. t/je peroration, i.e. the concluding portion of an address. 
26. On Marius and Sylla, see p. 31, 1. 32. 

the cursed triumvirate. This alludes to the first triumvirate 
B.C. 60, composed of Julius Caesar, Crassus and Pompey. 

30. against a Roman. The declaration 'Civis Romanus sum' 
availed to save one who could make it from many indignities, such 
as imprisonment or scourging. We can see this from S. Paul's 
history. There might be reasons why a Roman citizen should be 
put to death, but he was deemed exempt from degrading penalties. 

33. deficient to, i.e. inferior to. We now should say 'deficient 
from,' though that is not a very common form of expression. 

Page 57. 

4. two or three ears. See note above on p. 28, 1. 28. 
8. the broyling. Noticed above on p. 29, 1. 26. 
II. Sicilie. The tyrants of Sicily are celebrated for the cruel- 
ties they exercised. 

14. slaves in America. This refers to the action taken by 
Cromwell after Penruddock's rebellion in 1655. Penruddock and 
Grove (the leaders) were beheaded at Exeter, several others were 
hanged, and the rest of the prisoners were sent to Barbadoes to be 
sold for slaves. See also 'The humble petition of Marcellis Rivers 
and Oxenbridge Foyle as well on behalf of themselves as of three 
score and ten freeborn people of this nation now in slavery. ' 

31. words which he spoke. Of Cromwell's language about the 
Magna Charta Clarendon gives a specimen in connexion with Mr 
Coney's case (see on p. 55,1. 25). 

Page 58. 

8. The representative, i.e. the representative assembly, the 
parliament. 

15. phrensie. This use of ' ph ' where we now write ' f ' is frequent 
in Cowley. It has some warrant in the present word on account of 
its derivation from the Greek ^/ut^V, but he even writes prophane (p. 
139, 1. 10 &c.) which cannot be so defended. 

19. major-generals. This was the name Cromwell gave to 
those officers whom he appointed, after the act of decimation, to be 
over those military governments into which he portioned out the 
whole kingdom. They were to raise a militia, collect taxes, suppress 
all tumults, disarm all Catholics and Cavaliers, and to arrest, bind 
over and imprison all suspected or dangerous persons. 

21. seventy peers of the land at one clap. In allusion to Crom- 
well's attempt to form a House of Lords. He induced a few of the 

14 — 2 



212 NOTES. 

ancient nobility to accept a place therein, but he included in it also 
many of the most active friends of the reigning Government. Thus 
he produced a contemptible medley, and weakened his party in 
the Commons. 

26. // 7vas anticntly said of Fortune. The allusion is to Juvenal, 
Sat. III. 39, 40. 

31. liaut-goiist. The 's' retained in this form points to the 
derivation of the latter portion from Latin '^-wj/^j' — taste. In 
modern French orthography the letter is dropped, but was not so in 
Cowley's time. 

Page 59. 

8. concurring to, i.e. assenting to. The more common expres- 
sion is 'to concur with any thing.' 

17. The words written on the wall of Belshazzar's palace 
(Dan. V. 25). 

29. his son. Richard Cromwell, whom the Protector appointed 
to succeed him. This is what Cowley calls 'to entail his own 
injustice upon his children.' On Richard Cromwell's resignation of 
his position, see Clarendon, Hist. Reb. xvi. 14, 15. See above on 
p. 27, 1. 25. 

Page 60. 

6. fell a laughing. The *a' in forms like this is the preposition 
'on'. Thus 'fell on sleep' became 'fell asleep.' See above on 
p. 21, 1. 30. 

17. Cynick. The Cynic philosophers, whose typical representa- 
tive is Diogenes, were always represented as morose and ill-tempered. 
Hence the ' fro ward n ess ' spoken of in the text. 

Epicurean. The Epicureans, holding that the end of existence 
was to secure the greatest possible amount of enjoyment, were 
supposed to avoid every exertion which could be escaped. Hence 
their name is equivalent to 'lazy,' 'self-indulgent.' Theirs were the 
'lethargical morals' alluded to below, 1. 32. See on the word p. 113, 
1. 26. 

22. Platonical statesman. One who indulges in fanciful plans 
of government, incapable of realization, like those of Plato in his 
' Republic,' which was such a commonwealth as sounded very well 
in theory, but could never be worked in practice. 

23. Utopian dreamer. Sir Thos. More in his ' Utopia' describes 
a fancied state with government and laws approaching very nearly 
to perfection. Hence 'Utopian' is applied to things 'fanciful,' 
' incapable of being carried out.' 

26. Aristotle's politicks. Which were of a practical character. 
Taking human nature as it is, the philosopher of Stagira endeavoured 
to teach how a state can be best organized so as to answer to the 
requirements of men. The education of the citizens to live a life in 
harmony with virtue is the great principle on which he makes his 
system depend. 

28. JMachiaval, i.e. the famous Florentine statesman and 



NOTES. 213 

diplomatist, Niccolo Machiavelii. His principles are laid down in 
two works, The Pritue and The Practue of Politics. He is said to 
countenance, in these works, the doing of any act whereby ambitious 
sovereigns and their ministers may accomplish whatever their 
extravagant desires prompt them to, at the expense either of the 
peace of their country or the safety of their subjects. Clarendon 
{Hist. Reh. XV. 156) speaks of Machiavelli's method as prescribing 
' upon any alteration of a government, as a thing absolutely necessary, 
to cut off the heads of all those, and extirpate their families, who 
are friends to the old one.' 

Page 61. 

8. favourite to. We now say ' favourite with.' 

16. the first city. See Genesis iv. 17. Cain's city was called 
Enoch. 

1 8. grand-child of the Deity. Regarding Adam as 'the son of 
God' (see Luke iii. 38), Cain would thus be 'grand-child.' 

25. Abiinelech. For the history, see Judges ix. 5. 

27. a hecatomb. This was an offering of 100 victims. Abime- 
lech's brethren were 70 in number. 

29. to make it hold, i.e. to make it retain its colour. We have 
the same figure in the expression ''fast colours.' 

Page 62. 

I. Athaliah. On Athaliah's fury, see 2 Kings xi. i — 3. 
15. better got by one. Joash being the only one of the seed 
royal that was saved. 

19. MatlLusalem. For 'Methuselah,' whose life extended to 
969 years (Gen. v. 27). The orthography, which seems due to a 
popular acceptance of the termination for the same as that of 
Jerusalem, was common in Cowley's time (cf. p. 87, 1. 18). He 
also says in The Mistress, p. 26, 

'So though my life be short yet may I prove 
The great Alethitsalem of love.' 

29. yoii were wont to deliver oracles. Some of the ancient 
oracles, which Cowley by implication attributes to the 'kind of angel' 
seen in his vision, \vere written in very ambiguous and sometimes 
limping verse. 

Page 63. 

9. malignant. This was a name given by the'leaders of faction 
in these times to all whom they desired to render odious to the 
people. 

12. you know whither. Euphemistically alluding to the place 
of execution. 

13. pounces, i.e. talons, claws, wherewith the bird pounces, that 
is, pierces his prey. Cf. Spenser F. Q. I. 11, 



214 NOTES. 

'As haggard hauke, presuming to contend 

With hardy fowle above his hable might, 
His wearie pounces all in vain doth spend 
To trusse the pray too heavie for his flight.' 

So a * pou)tcet-hox^ is a box pierced vi'ith holes out of which 
any powder which it contains may be shaken. 

25. a nafral crown. Cowley makes his rescuing angel to 
come in the likeness of an English king. 

33. the mystic champion^ s, i.e. Michael the archangel, who 
fought with the dragon, i.e. Satan. (Rev. xii. 7). 

Page 64. 

4. th^ English bloody cross. The significance of the Red Cross 
is explained by Spenser {F. Q. i. 2), in his description of the Red 
Cross Knight : 

'And on his brest a bloodie cross he bore, 
The dear remembrance of his dying Lord, 
For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore 
And dead, as living ever, him adored. 
Upon his shield the like was also scored 
For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had.' 



ESSAYS. 
I. Of Liberty. 

Page 66. 

6. Esait. Yqx the history, see Genesis xxv. 29 — 34. 

8. Thamer, i.e. Tamar, see Genesis xxxviii. 18. 

14. Stoical paradox. The Stoics were fond of maintaining 
such positions as that ' a wise man is inferior to Jove alone,' and 
that true philosophy, i.e. Stoicism, made him who followed it 
superior to all the world beside, alone free, rich, a sovereign in 
short. 

19. Salust. The quotation is from the fragments of Sallust, 
Mattaire's edition, p. 116. 

25. Atalanta. She was the daughter of Jasus and Clymene. 
When her father wished her to marry she made it a condition that 
her suitors should contend with her in a footrace, and she would 
accept him who conquered her. Meilanion who had obtained from 
Aphrodite three golden apples, dropped them on the course and 
Atalanta, captivated with their beauty, tarried to pick them up and 
so was beaten. 

28. Fertur &c. i.e. ' the charioteer is borne on by his steed, 



NOTES. 2 15 

nor does the team lieed the reins.' The line is from Verg. Georg. i. 

514- 

33. When the Romans were candidates for any olfice they were 

wilHng to submit to anything to gain their end. TertulHan {de 

pcenit. II) describes them thus: 'Those who go about canvassing 

for office are neither ashamed nor tired out by any sufferings of 

mind or body, and not only do they bear sufferings but also every 

kind of insult for the compassing of their wish. What unseemliness 

of dress do they assume ! ' 

Page 67. 

5. nomenclator, i.e. a person to announce the names of all 
whom the candidate met. Cowley in The Mistress says : 

'Meanvvhile I will not dare to make a name 

To represent thee by. 
Adam (God's nomenclator) could not frame 
One that enough should signifie.' 

13. ' Lo, Romans the lords of the world.' The allusion is to 
Verg. Aejj. i. 282. 

19. t/ie beast unth many heads, i.e. the populace. 

Catiline. Lucius Sergius Catilina, notorious for several times 
stirring up insurrections in Rome. Some of Cicero's most powerful 
speeches were made against him, and Sallust has left us a history of 
the man and his doings. 

21. Sylla's. See on p. 31, 1. 32. 

28. Machiavel. On Niccolo Machiavelli, born 1469, died 1527, 
see above on p. 60, 1. 28. 

30. this man dr. The passage is translated from Cicero's 
oration/;-^ Cieliox. 12. 

Page 68. 

19. laveer. This is a Dutch nautical word, and signifies 'to 
sail in an oblique direction so as to catch the wind,' and so fitly 
describes the action of a seeker after popular favour. It is used by 
Lovelace, Luaistra ii. 18, 

' Did on the shore himself laveer.^ 

And by Dryden, Astrcea Redux. 65, 

' But those that 'gainst stiff" gales laveering go 
Must be at once resolved and skilful too.' 

33. an Anti-Paitl. The vei-y contrary of Paul. The Apostle 
'became all things to all men' that he might save some. 

Page 69. 

8. Salust. The passage is from the Catiline, chap. X. 

20. Zopyrus. The history of Zopyrus is narrated in the text. 
His father Megabyzus was one of the seven chiefs who killed the 



2i6 NOTES. 

false Smerdis. It is said that Daiius after Babylon was won used to 
say he would rather have Zopyrus without his scars than twenty 
Babylons. 

Page 70. 

15. paijiful, i.e. painstaking. Cf. Gascoigne, Steele Glass 
(Arber's Reprints), p. 43, 'Plato was in his age painful to write 
good precepts of moral phylosophy.' Also Burton's Anatomy, p. 
208, 'Let there be bountiful patrons, and there will be painftd 
scholars in all sciences.' 

31. Seneca. The words are from the Liber de Consolatione, ad 
Polybium, chap. xxvi. 'Magna servitus est magna fortuna.' 

34. to Attiais. The passage is in a letter included with the 
epistles of Cicero to Brutus, i. 16, 4, 'Nimium timemus mortem et 
exsilium et paupertatem. Hcec mihi videntur Ciceroni ultima esse 
in malis, et dum habeat a quibus impetret quoe velit, et a quibus 
colatur et laudetur, servitutem honorificam modo non aspernatur ; 
si quidquam in extrema ac miserrima contumelia potest honorificum 
esse ? ' 

PAGE_7r. 

14. a groom. From A. S. gu?)ia = a man, homo. In general 
usage however it came to signify 'a serving man.' Cf. Spenser, 
Sheph. Cal. (March) 62, 

' It was upon a holiday, 
When shepheard groomes han leave to play.' 

29. ajnatorem &c. 'Three hundred chains bind the lover 
Pirithous.' The words are from Horace, Od. 111. 4. 79. 



Page 72. 

14. aliena dr. The words, sufficiently translated in the text, 
are from Horace, Satires, 11. 6. 34. 

18. dors. Cockchafers. Cf. Burton's Anatomy, p. 67, 'They 
shew their wit in censuring others, a company of foolish note- 
makers, humble-bees, dors or beetles.' 

26. table d'Jwst, i.e. table d'hote. Cf. above on haut goust p. 
58, 1. 31. 

Page 73. 

8. as the Scripture speaks. The allusion is to Ps. Ixix. 22. 
16. pan hnper sebastos, i.e. irav virkp cre^aarbs, 'one altogether 
superlatively august.' 

19. Leviathans. The grand people are so styled as being the 
great fishes of society. Similar is the expression 'This Triton of 
the minnows,' Shakes. Cor. HI. i. 89. 

20. LLitherto dw Job xxviii. 1 1. 



NOTES. 217 

21. Perditur d'c. From Horace, Sat. ir. 6, 59. The words are 
translated in the next Hne. 

23. impertinent. Ahiiless, objectless, serving no purpose. See 
p. 72, 1. 17. Cf. Shakespeare, Tempest, i. 2. 138, 

'Without the which this story were most impertinent.^ 

So Burton, Afiato??iy, p. 22, *Rut the story is set down at large 
by Hippocrates, — which because it is not impertinent to this dis- 
course, I will insert verbatim.' 

28. Horace. The passage translated is from Sat. i. 6. 

30. cheapen. The original sense of the word is 'to buy' or 'to 
try to buy.' It is connected with chaffer, and couper in ' horse-couper.' 
Cf. Shakespeare, Pericles, iv. 6. 10, ' She would make a puritan of 
the devil, if he should cheapen a kiss of her.' 

Also Earle's Microcosmographie (Arber's Reprints), p. 73, 'It is 
the market of young lecturers whom you may cheapen here at all 
rates and sizes.' 

33. mist, i.e. missed. See above on 'guest' p. 24, 1. 29, and 
p. 62, 1. 27. 

Page 74. 

I. censure. The word has not always, as in modern English, 
the sense of 'blame,' 'rebuke.' Sometimes it means, as here, only 
'opinion,' 'judgement.' Cf. Shakespeare, As You like It IV. i. 7, 
'How blest am I in my just censure, in my true opinion.' So 
Hamlet, I. 3. 69, 

'Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.' 

3. vexatioji of spirit. In allusion to Ecclesiastes i. 14. 

ro. care of yours, i.e. the care for those who are in your 
service. 

15. fasces, i.e. his rods, the instruments whereby he asserts his 
authority. The word is most frequently used in Latin for the rods 
borne by a Roman lictor, indicating the power of summary punish- 
ment. Cowley in his Sylva, p. 42 (ed. 1684), uses fasces of a 
schoolmaster's rods, but with a reference to the original meaning, 
' I would not be a schoolmaster, though he 
His rods no less 'Ca^Xi fasces deems to be.' 

25. epidemical, i.e. of general occurrence. Life is called a 
disease by reason of the discomforts above enumerated, and as all 
men share in it, it is called epidemical. 

30. mas king- habit. Masks were worn by players to make 
them look their part. Hence maski7ig=\A?iy'mg a part in a 
masquerade, and the masking-hahit = the dress suited for a mas- 
querade. Cf Shakes. Taming of the Shrezv, IV. 3. 87, 'What 
masking stuff is here ? ' 

32. a slave in Saturnalibus. The Saturnalia was a feast in 
honour of Saturn, beginning on the 17th of December and lasting 
several days. During this time slaves were allowed abundant 
license and freedom of speech, so that they could abuse with 
impunity any whom they disliked, even their masters.. 



2i8 NOTES. 



Page 75. 

3. He heapeth dr. From Ps. xxxix. 6. 

8. Unciatim &c. The quotation, substantially represented in 
the text, is from Terence, Phormio, i. i. 33. 

30. other. We should now say ' others.' But the form in the 
text as a plural was not uncommon. Cf. Ps. Ixxiii. 8 (P. Bk. 
version), ' They corrupt other, and speak of wicked blasphemy.' 

So Bp. Pilkington (Parker Society), p. 7, ' Phinees turned away 
God's anger from his people, because he punished that wickedness 
which other winked at.' 

31. KaKo. drjpta. The words are quoted from St Paul's Epistle 
to Titus i. 12. 

34. t7ao directly opposite significations, dpybs, written exactly 
in the same form, but no doubt derived from two distinct roots, is 
applied (i) as in irodas apyol, said of dogs, that are sivift footed, and 
(2) to things which do no work, as in the text, =j/frt:'. 

Page 76. 

3. Metrodoriis. A Greek philosopher, born according to one 
authority at Lampsacus, according to others at Athens. His 
philosophy appears to have been of a more sensual kind than that 
of Epicurus. The sentiment in the text is alluded to more than 
once by Cicero, De nat. dcor. I. 40 ; Tiisc. disptit. v. 9; De fin. ii. 28. 

5. Epicurus. The famous Greek philosopher of Gargettus in 
Attica. He was the founder of the Epicurean philosophy, which 
taught that pleasure (rightly understood) was the highest good. 

14. Lepidiis. M. yl^Imilius Lepidus, one of the second trium- 
virate with Antony and Octavius. See note on p. 45, 1. 12. 

16. Mark Antony, defeated by Augustus at the battle of 
Actium. 

17. Quisnani &c. From Horace, Sat. II. 7. 83. ' Who then is 
free? The wise man, and he who is able to control himself.' 

18. Oenonians. King of Pisa, and father of Hippodameia. 
Not wishing his daughter to marry he always demanded that her 
suitor should contend with him in a chariot-race. Having a famous 
charioteer and using other arts he contrived to conquer many, but at 
last was overcome by Pelops. 

27. washing. See al)ove on p. 74, 1. 30. 

Page 77. 

4. A''ing "James. In the edition of King James's works (1616) I 
have not found this saying, though there are words of a somewhat 
similar import, e.g. {Trne La^o of Free Monarchies, p. 209), 'The 
highest bench is the sliddriest to sit upon.' From the way in which 
Cowley speaks here it may be that the expression was only a saying 
of the king's and not included in any published work. 



NOTES. 219 

17. pour f aire bonne bonche, i.e. the verses from Martial &c. are 
* to serve as a tit-bit ' after his own verses, and what he chooses to 
call a tedious discourse. 

Page 78. 

7. giiilded. The spelling of this word is very interesting. The 
word guilds a fraternity formed for mutual aid, and the members of 
which paid a contribution at set periods, is connected with gold 
(geld A.S. = money), and Cowley's orthography shews how the feeling 
was preserved in his day that the two words were akin. 

25. tveathers. The plural form is not very common. But cf. 
Shakes. Winter's Tale, v. i. 195, 

' Whose honesty endured all zveathers.^ 

There however the word is used metaphorically. 

30. the Persian king. The line in Martial says ' the Parthian 
king.' But in classic literature the luxurious living of the Persians 
is much more dwelt on than that of the Parthians (cf Hor. Od, I. 
38. i). Hence Cowley has substituted the one name for the other. 

Page 79. 

8, the freeman^ s hat. Among the Romans it was the custom to 
give a slave, oh his enfranchisement, a tight-fitting felt cap, called 
pileus, to be worn as a sign of his liberty. By giving up all those 
things, which others seek so zealously, the freedom of which this is 
the sign (says the poet) may be procured. 

19. those, i.e. the poor. They have the laborious task to win 
their bread. These (in line 22) refers, of course, to the rich. 

20. Brideivel. A house of correction for culprits. The name 
comes from St Bride's well in London, near which was a building 
used for this purpose. 

Page 81. 

1 7. heroick 7-ace. So Cowley calls the birds because they keep 
their freedom. Hence are their 'ways and walks the nearest heaven.' 

27. degeneroiis. Ignoble, base. The word is uncommon in 
English. It represents the Latin dcgener. 

nnbirdly. This is also an unusual word, formed after the 
analogy of unmanly. 

Page 82. 

10. Cornish mount. St Michael's Mount. See above p. 20, 1. 10. 

1 8. Rhodian Colossus. This was a celebrated statue at Rhodes, 
which stood 70 cubits high and was dedicated to the sun. 

29. The bondman of the cloister, i.e. the monk, who has 
bound himself by a vow of poverty. All that he receives is not his 
own, nor at his own disposal. He goes to his work at the sound of 
a bell, and only the last sound thereof, which announces his release 
by death, can be a happy one. 



2 20 NOTES. 



Page 83. 

7. hits Ike white. The white was the centre of the target, and 
to hit it was the best shot possible. 

Cf. Liisfs Dominion, ill. 5, 9 (Dodsley xiv. 144), 

' Which of the two shall be thy white ? ' 

i.e. which of the two will you aim at specially? 

Also The True Trojans, I. 2, 20 (Dodsley xii. 454), 

' I'll hit the white: 

10. Pindaric zuay. The odes of Pindar are written in very 
irregular metre. Cowley in some of his poems has imitated this, and 
called this portion ' the Pindaric Odes.' The allusion is explained 
by the next line. 

19. transitions, i. e. right and orderly methods of passing from 
one subject to another. It shall be fitful and erratic, not a slave to 
rules. 

31. thorough. For through. Cf. Shakes. Pericles, I v. 3. 35, 
* It pierced me thorough: Also 1 lien. IV. i. 3. 59, ' Who half 
thorough gives o'er.' 

a compass take, i.e. 'go a roundabout road.' 'To fetch a 
compass' is found 2 Sam. v. 23 ; Acts xxviii. 13, for 'to go by a 
roundabout tack ' in marching an army or sailing a vessel. 



II. Of Solitude. 

Page 84. 

r. Nunqtiam &c., ' I am never less alone than when alone.' The 
passage is in Cicero, Republ. i. 17. 27. Cf. also Cato apud Prise, 
p. 694. 

13. retired himself. This verb is not now often used as a 
reflexive. But cf. Shakes. IVinter's Tale, IV. 4. 663, ' You must 
retire yourself '\n\.o some covert.' 

15. Lintermun. Also written Liternum. It was a city of 
Campania near to which Scipio Africanus had an estate. Livy 
XXXVIII. 53. 

16. Seneca. See Seneca, Ep. 86. 

23. Hannibal. The celebrated son of Plamilcar, who led the 
Carthaginians in the second Punic war. 

Page 85. 

I. Scipio, i.e. Scipio Africanus, alluded to on the previous page. 

3. colourably, i.e. speciously, plausibly. Cf. Bp. Coverdale 
p. 92, ' He can give but a counterfeit medicine, as the surgeon doth 
which colourably healeth.' 

4. Montaigne. Essays, lib. I. 38. The words are 'Respondons 



NOTES. 221 

a rambition, que c'est elle mesme qui donne guust de la solitude. 
Car que ne fuit-elle tant que la societe ? ' On Montaigne, see below 
p. 131, I. 2. 

19. Tecum iCr. 'With thee I should love to live, with thee I 
would gladly die,' Horace, Od. ill. 9. 24. 

21. S/c ego dr. Tibullus iv. 13. 9. 

31. Catullus, The quotation below is from ' de Aniore suo ' 

83- 
Page 86. 

11. parricides. At first the lavv'' prescribed that such a criminal 
should be sewn up in a sack and thrown into a river. But in the 
time of Pompey, the punishment was appointed, that he should first 
be whipped till he bled, then sewn up in a sack with a dog, a cock, 
a viper and an ape and be cast into the sea. 

Page 87. 

8. vita. The sentence is from Publius Syrus. Scntentiir, 202. 
-24. arrive. Seems here equivalent to arise. I have not found 
another example of such use. 

Page 88. 

8. (jui me tOc. Vergil, Gcorg. 11. 489. *0 that some one 
would set me down in the cool valleys of Hamus and shield with a 
mighty shade of boughs.' 

Page 89. 

19. numbcr''s tree. The whole series of numbers is regarded as 

having its starting point in the first number, viz. one. Hence that 

is the stem and all the rest are called its branches. Cowley has 

another form of the same concert in the first book of the Davideis : 

' Numbers which still increase more high and wide, 

From one, the root of their turned pyramide.' 

Page 90. 

7. monster London. The city of London was considered of 
great extent in Cowley's time. What would he say of it were he 
writing now, when Islington is no longer a village, but absorbed, 
and many another village like it, into the huge compass of the 
metropolis ? 

14. village less than Islington. In Cowley's day London had 
not absorbed all the villages around it as it has now done, and 
between London and Islington there was a stretch of open country. 
A report published about 17 14 (nearly half a century after Cowley's 
death) describes the roads and highways in Islington as 'very 
ruinous and almost impassable for the space of 5 months in the 
year.' In 1 793 the population of Islington was 6,600. 



222 NOTES. 



III. Of Obscurity. 

Page 91. 

1. N'afii neqite d'c. The passage is from Horace, £j>. I. 17. 9. 
14. Secretwn dr. Horace, Ej>. I. 18. 103. 

17. Mr Broom. This was Alexander Broom (or Brome) born 
1620, died 1666. In connexion with Ben Jonson, Cowley, Hawkins, 
Fanshaw and Holliday, he translated Horace, his portion being the 
Odes and Epodes. He is said to have by his songs largely aided the 
Restoration of Charles H. 

22. same author. The words are in Horace, Sat. ii. 7. 114. 

Page 92. 

2. Quintilian. Dalain. xiii. Apes Pauperis. 
6. Bene qui (tc. Ovid, 7)7.?/. ill. 4. 25. 

16. the case of Apneas d'c. The passage is from Verg. Aett. i. 

415- 

21. Demosthenes^ confession. The story is told in Cicero, Tusc. 
V. 103. 

22. tanker-woman^ i.e. tankard-woman, a water-carrier. 

Cf. Sir T. Harington, On Flaye, i. 227. 'God send me quickly 
a fatherless sonne, if I had not rather one of my sonnes were a 
tanker- bearer, that wears sometimes his silk sleeves at the church on 
Sunday, than a cozener that weares his satten hose at an ordinary on 
Fridaie. ' 

The allusion in this passage is to apprentices, who in old times 
had to carry the water for their masters' houses. 

28. sight-shot. A word modelled after the fashion of 'ear-shot,' 
which we still keep in use. 

Democritus. The famous philosopher of Abdera, the originator 
of the atomic theory. 

29. commodity. Advantage, gain, profit. Cf. Shakes. Kitig 
John, IL I, 573- 

* That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity, 
Commodity, the bias of the world.' 

and compare the whole speech, which concludes, 

'Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.' 

31. Epicurus. See above p. 76, 1. 5. 
33. Mctrodorus. See above p. 76, 1. 3. 

Page 93. 

4. most talk'd-of and talkifig country. One cannot but recall 
St Paul's account of the Athenians (Acts xvii. 21), 'They spent 



NOTES. 223 

their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new 
thing.' 

9, engage inio. We now say 'engage in.' 

II. quotidian aguc^ i.e. a daily shivering fit. Because the 
intrusions and encroachments on our time will make us shudder. 

19. Bucephahcs. The name of the horse of Alexander the Great. 

Incitatus. The horse of Domitian the Roman emperor was so 
called. Domitian is said to have had it elected to the consulship. 
This is the allusion in line 24 below. 

■29. S. Peter. The reference is to Acts v. 15, 'They brought 
forth the sick into the streets... that at least the shadow of Peter 
passing by might overshadow some of them. ' 

31. Cato, i.e. Marcus Porcius Cato, known as Cato the Censor. 
He died about 150 B.C. He was so distinguished that Cicero tells 
us {de Amic. 2) that the word 'Sapiens,' wise, became a quasi- 
cognomen of his. 

32. Aristides. An Athenian statesman and general, who 
flourished about 490 B.C. He was celebrated as the best and justest 
of his countrymen. He was banished from Athens through the 
influence of Themistocles. 

33. ivhilest. The v/ord 'while' (A. S. hzuil) was originally a 
noun, meaning time. The genitive 'whiles' became used in an 
adverbial sense = 'at a time,' and the form was afterwards enlarged 
to 'whilest,' which now is usually written 'whilst'. We can trace 
the tendency to make such an addition in some dialects of English 
where once is pronounced as * wunst.' 

Page 94. 

6. coDintercc, i.e. intercourse, without any idea of trade or 
barter, which now alone is the sense of the word. Cf. Shakes. 
Hanilety ill. i. 10 : 

'Could beauty have better commerce than with honesty?' 
13. muta persona. A character on the stage, who appears, but 
has no speech to make. 

15. Angustns. The emperor of Rome. See above on p. 45, 
1. 12. 

16. askt zuit/i his last breath. Suet. Aug. 99, ' Ecquid iis 
videretur mimum vitoe commode transegisse.' 

21. guilded. Cf. on p. 78, 1. 7. 

29. long ruins. So styled, because being high when they were 
standing, they stretch far when they fall; hence the prayer to be 
'at a good distance' from them. 

Page 95. 

6. scutcheon. A shield ornamented with armorial bearings. 
Cf. Shakes. Antony and Cleopatra-, v. 2. 135, 

' And we 
Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest shall 
Hang in what place you please.' 



224 NOTES. 

6. elogie. See above p. 8, 1. ii. 

8. theti. When death has laid them low. Cf. Shirley, Conten- 
tion of Ajax and Ulysses, Sc. ill. 

' Sceptre and crown must tumble down, 
And in the dust be equal made 
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.' 



IV. Of Agriculture. 

Page 96. 

6. as he did zvith Solomon. See the history, in i Kings iii. 
II — 14. 

13. O fortimatus &c. O too fortunate man and who knew his 
blessings. An adaptation of Verg. Georg. ii. 458. 

Page 97. 

I. Columella. The quotation is from De re rustica, I. i. 

3. Varro says. De re rustica, 1.4,' Ejus principia sunt eadem 
qui-ie mundi esse Ennius scribit aqua terra anima et sol.' 

8. Cicero says. De Sencctiite, XV. 51. 

21. as they were in Rome. Alluding to the well-known stories 
of Cincinnatus and M. Curius. See Cicero de Senect. xvi. 56. 

28. parcel, i.e. portion, of ground. Cf. St John iv. 5, ' the 
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.' 

Page 98. 

20. tropes, i.e. metaphorical forms of expression. The word 
is from the Gk. Tpotros — a turn, and is used of language in which 
the words are turned in their application to something to which 
they did not originally refer. 

21. Many nations have lived dr. Cf. the account of the 
Israelites when they went down into Egypt. Gen. xlvii. 3, 'Thy 
servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.' The nomad 
races of the East are still instances of what is stated in the text. 

24. beholding. We now use ' beholden.' But the form in the 
text was common. Cf Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia (Arber's 
Reprints), p. 56, 'He held the staffe of the Treasury fast in his hand, 
which once in the year made them all beholding to him.' And again 
p. 59, ' For his person he was not much beholding to nature.' 

Page 99. 

8. all other trades... set foi'th whole troops. The City companies 
have always been forward, when need was, to furnish volunteer 
companies. The draper John Gilpin was a train-band captain. 



NOTES. 225 

13. hventy years' riiine. Speaking in round numbers the years 
between 1640 and r66o. 

3r. cxpenceful. Now obsolete or nearly so. But cf. Beaumont 
and Fletcher, Pilgrim, I. i : 

' Who will have me ? 
Who will be troubled with a pettish girl ? 
It may be proud, and to that vice expenceful.^ 

32. instance in. In modern English the preposition is omitted, 
and we should say ' I shall instance one delight more.' But cf. 
Sir W. Temple, Letter to Lord Arlington, July 1669 : 

' The Dutch desired the particular instances of what they had 
felt or thought they had occasion to fear : our merchants instanced 
in Cochin and Cananor.' 

Page 100. 

8. Hinc atqne June d'c. Verg. yEn. i. 502. 

14. inurtherer. Cain, after Abel's murder, built the city 
Enoch (Gen. iv. 17). The interchange of th and d was not 
uncommon, as in the forms btcrthen and burden. 

17. Ecclesiasticus. Chap. vii. 15. 

■27. fields d'' or or d'' argent. The heraldic language common in 
describing coats of arms. The field is the tincture, or combination 
of tinctures, forming the ground on which the device is delineated. 
These are of three descriptions, metals, colours, furs. The metals 
are cr=gold, and argent— %A\tx. 

31. complaint of Columella. Columella's words are in the 
prologue to the De re rustica. ' Adhuc enim scholas rhetorum et (ut 
dixi) geometrarum musicorumque, vel quod magis mirandum est 
contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas guliosius condiendi cibos, et 
luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque et capillorum concinnatores 
non solum esse audivi sed et ipse vidi: agricolationis neque doctores 
qui se profiterentur neque discipulos cognovi.' 

Page ioi. 

15. dancing. Lucian says dancing was invented by the goddess 
Rhea, and by her communicated to her priests in Phrygia and Crete. 
Of its use in worship we have an instance in Exod. xv. 20. 

Page 102. 

3. as they call him there. In Oxford the name given to the 
head of a Hall is 'Principal.' 

9. villaticas pastiones. Varro, R. R. 3. 2. 13. The expression 
is also used by Columella, De re rustica, vii. 13. 3. 

27. Mr Hartlib. Samuel Plartlib was a friend of Mede and 
Milton. He was of Polish extraction, but settled in England and 
interested himself in education and agriculture. He edited a treatise 
on Flemish Agri^cullure. He received from Cromwell a pension of 

L. C. 15 



226 NOTES. 

^300 a year, which ceased at the Restoration. Milton dedicated to 
him his Tractate on Education. 

33. Poetry was born among the shepherds. See below on p. 
103, 1. 23, seqq. 

Page 103. 

I. Nescio qua <Lr. Ovid. Pont. I. 3. 35. 

19. pariter d'c. Ovid. Fasti I. 300. The sense is sufficiently 
expressed in the previous line. 

27. he has cojitribiited [says Columella). De re rusiiea, I. r, 
' Celeberrinius vates non minimum professioni nostrje contulit Hesio- 
dus Boeotius.' Hesiod's contribution is the Works and Days, 
i.e. the works to be done in agriculture and the most favourable 
days for undertaking them. 

33. ir\eov, K.T.X. Hesiod, JVorks and Days, j^o. 

Page 104. 

25. his father Laertes. See Horn. Odyss. xxiv. 226 — 231. 

30. EumcBus. Cf. Hom. Odyss. xv. 301, and often. 

32. ha^ for have. A frequent dialectic abbreviation, but not 
found often in good prose. See above, line 9, //«'«'/ = have not. 

33. Menelaus or Agamemnon. The two Greek commanders 
in the Trojan war, and so the greatest personages in Homer's 
poem. 

Theocrittts. The passage alluded to is in Theocr. Id. xxv. 51. 

Page 105. 

5. civil, i.e. courteous, polished. 

8. Virgil. The poet Vergil enjoyed much favour at court, 
but took no advantage of it. His poems on agricultural and 
pastoral subjects are the Eclogues and the Georgics. 

15. describing Evander. The description is in Verg. A^n. viii. 

365- 

19. eves, i.e. eaves. 

24. Escurial. A village six leagues from Madrid, made famous 
by a palace of the King of Spain. 

Louvre. The palace of the kings of France in Paris. 

25. IVhitehal. One of the palaces of the English king in the 
days of Cowley. It is now transformed into a Royal chapel. 

31. Alcides. Hercules, who was the grandson of Alceus. 

Page 106. 

6. lit nos etc. * that he may help us in writing letters.' 

8. Sabin, or Tiburtin mannor. Horace was presented by 
Mtecenas with a small Sabine farm (2 Sat. vi. i) situate at the 
village of Mandela, not far from the river Digentia. He afterwards 
bought or hired a house at Tibur (the modern Tivoli). 



NOTES. 227 

21. Qui, quid c&c. 'Who tells us more plainly and better 
than Chrysippus and Grantor (professors of philosophy) what is 
beauteous, what is base, what useful and what not so.' The words 
are from Horace, Epist. i. 2. 4. 

28. in Martiars, Such are the Epigrams, bk. ill. 58, ^ Ad 
Basstim,'' bk. IV. 89, ' De Rusticatione'' and many others. 

Page 107. 

14. poison of Assyrian pride. Assyrian is probably intended 
for Syria)i here. The dyes meant would be those of Sidon and 
Tyre in Phoenicia. On the frequency of the confusion between the 
two names cf. Drackenb. ad Sil. It. ii. 40. 

Page 108. 

3. Astnra. A fabled daughter of Jupiter and Themis. She 
came to dwell among men in the golden age as the goddess of 
Justice, but their crimes drove her back again to heaven. Cowley 
in his poem on the king's return out of Scotland {Sylva^ p. 40) says 
with the somewhat gross flattery of the times : 

'Yet while our Charles with equal balance reigns 
'Twixt Mercy and Asima, and maintains 
A noble peace, 'tis he, 'tis only he 
Who is most near, most like the deity.' 

24. Tempe. A valley of Thessaly, lying between Mt. Ossa and 
Mt. Olympus. The river Peneus flowed through it, and its exquisite 
beauty and the peaceful character of the whole vale are much cele- 
brated by the classic poets. 

Page 109. 

7. gowned war. The law-courts are spoken of as scenes of 
'gowned war', because the gown is a part of the barrister's dress 
when pleading. 

18. Tyrian beds. The luxury of Tyre, and especially the 
splendour of the robes and furniture of Tyrians, are well known. 
Cf. Tyrii amictiis , Ov. A. A. ii. 297. Tyrio inurice saturata palla, 
Ov. Met. II. 166. Tyria purpura, Cic. Contra Verre?n, v. 56. 
Also Tertullian De hahitjt vuilieb. chap. I. 

drink in gold. We much more frequently now say ' drink 
outof go\di\ from golden cups. But cf. Shakes. 2 Hen. VI. Act 4. 
10, where speaking of a 'sallet' or helmet Cade says, 'Many a time 
when I have been dry and bravely marching, it has served me 
instead of a quart pot to drink in.' 

Page no. 

12. Amidst his equal friends, i.e. friends of the same age. A 
common sense of the Latin aqualis. Cf. Gal. i. 14, 'And I profited 
in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation.' 

19. old Hetrurian virtue. Etruria (called also Tuscia) was 
celebrated in early times for its forwardness in culture. Actors 

15 — 2 



228 NOTES. 

were brought from Etruria to Rome (Livy vii. 2), also the Romans 
were taught Tuscan literature (Livy ix. 36). 

20. Sabins. The Sabines are a type of hardiness and simplicity 
in all the Roman authors, Livy i. 18, talks of 'disciplina tetrica ac 
tristis veterum Sabinorum.' 

21. Kemiis, and the god, his brother. Romulvis the founder of 
Rome and the brother of Remus is said to have been carried away 
from the earth in a storm of thunder and lightning, and was worship- 
ped afterwards under the name of Quirinus. 

22. grew the world's head, i.e. 'grew to be the head of the 
world ' Cf. Shakes. Cor. iv. 4, 21, 

'So fellest foes... shall gi'otv dear friends.' 

24. poor Saturn^ s golden days. So called because in (he golden 
age when Saturn reigned poverty was the rule among men and 
virtue with it. 

Page m. 

9. marriageable vine. So styled because it must he attached 
to some other tree as its prop. 

16. agin. Agin and Agen are not infrequent forms in earlier 
English for again. So {Sylva, p. 41) 'Great Charles is come agen.' 
It is also found in the earlier editions of Dryden, but the printers 
have in later times changed the spelling. 

19. tise, i.e. the interest, return, produce on his labours. Cf. 
Selden, Table Talk, tisury, 'The Jews were forbidden to take iise 
one of another.' See also Cowley, Miscellanies, p. 7 : 

'Thus he in arts so vast a treasure gain'd 
Whilest still the use came in, and stock remained.' 

Page 112. 

17. sunburnt Sabins. See above p. no, 1. 20. 

18. Apulia. Horace could speak with authority of the frugal 
life of Apulia, his birthplace being Venusia, a border town between 
Lucania and Apulia. 

22. to pin the shcepfold. We use now the form 'pen.' 

23. against, i.e. in expectation of the time when (he will 
come). Cf. Shakes. Mids. Nt.''s Dream, ill. 2, 99, 

' I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.' 
29. htstful shell-fish. 'Lustful' seems here to be used in the 
sense of 'ministering to appetite.' There is no adjective in the 
Latin. Juvenal tells (iv. 140) how the epicure of his day could 
distinguish at the first mouthful where an oyster had been reared. 

31. ortolans nor godwits. Ortolan. Said to be derived from 
L. hortulajiHSf and to signify a bird which frequents garden hedges. 
The godwit, another bird, is said to derive its name from its good 
flavour. 

Page 113. 
I. The Version begins from line 79 of the Satire of Horace. 



NOTES. 229 

5. careful of the main. Lat. attenhis gtKrsifis, i.e. careful of 
what he had stored ; looking after the main chance. 

10. belighted, i.e. 'alighted.' 

15. fitches, i.e. vetches. So in the Bible we find 'fats' for 
'vats.' 

peason, i.e. peas. The *on' is the old plural termination and 
is still heard in some English counties. Cf. also, Puttenham's Arte 
of Poesie (Arber), p. 125: 

'All is but a jest, all dust, all not worth two peasoii, 
For why, in man's matters is neither rime nor reason.' 

18. hatit goust. For 'haut gout.' See above p. 58, 1. 31. 

19. the swerd of bacon. 'Swerd' with the variants 'sword' and 
'swarth' is applied to the outer skin of swine, and to the grass- 
covered surface of the ground. It is the A. S. sweard. For its 
use cf. Brewer, Lingua., Act ii. Sc. i. 

' They would use no other bucklers in war, but shields of brawn, 
brandish no swords but swords of bacon.' 



Page 114. 

24. Phoebus into Thetis'' bosonie fell. A poetic figure for sunset. 
Phoebus is the sun-god, Thetis a sea-nymph, here named to represent 
the ocean. 

27. troth. Another orthography of 'truth,' which by its form 
keeps in mind the derivation from the verb ' to trow. ' 



Page 115. 

7. Mortlackc's noble loom. In the reign of King James I. the 
manufacture of tapestry was set up at Mortlake in Surrey, and the 
king is said to have given two thousand pounds towards the 
undertaking. (Cf. Rymer's Fcedera, XVIII. p. (dd) The works 
at Mortlake, which at first followed the old patterns of the Nether- 
lands, were afterwards supplied by Francis Cleyn with fresh designs, 
both historical and grotesque, and the manufacture was brought to 
great perfection. 

5. pale meridies of the night. 'Meridies,' properly 'mid-day', 
is here used for the middle time of night. Cynthia, i.e. the moon, 
had passed through half her nightly course. 

17. //z' industrious peasant. The country mouse has brought 
with him the diligence of his previous life, and employs it well. 

19. %vell-fraighted. We write now 'freighted.' 



Page 116. 

Ii. priesfs service. In which, as the priest had for his share 
much of the honied cakes of the offerings, the diet of the servant 
would be largely made up of such food. 

16. cliuse, i.e. choose. Written in the usual form p. 117, 1. jj. 



230 NOTES. 

■20. 'The mad celestial dog' is Sirius the dog-star, which is in 
the ascendant when the hot weather called the dog-days prevails. 
•The lyon ' in the same way refers to the constellation 'Leo.' 

Page 117. 

8. right gems. Of a perfect quality and purity. Cf. Shakes. 
As You like /t, in. 2. 127, 'That's the ng/it virtue of the medlar.' 

Page 118. 

7. // burns, i.e. causes inflammation. It is a literal translation 
of the Latin 'urit.' 

17. Blest be the tnaii dr. These lines are a translation from 
Cowley's own Latin at the beginning of Bk. iv. of his Sex Libri 
Plantaru/n. As a specimen of his Latinity, the text is given : 

Felix, quern misera procul ambitione remotum, 

Parvus ager placide parvus et liortus alit. 
Prscbet ager quicquid frugi Natura requirit. 

Hortus habet quicquid luxurii-sa petit. 
Cajtera sollicilse speciosa incommoda vitse 

Permittit stultis quserere, habere malis. 
Talis erat magni niemoratu digna Maronis 

Corycii quondam vita beata senis. 
Talis (crediderim) tarn laitus et impiger hortis 

Dives in exiguis Abdalonimus erat. 
Illutn damnosas runcantem gnaviter herl;as 

Ecce alj Alexandre rcge satelles adit. 
Accipe Sidonii, vir magne, insignia regni 

Sceptrum, ait, et niiiram, Sidoniamque togani. 
Missus in imperiuni lantum (quis credat ?) amabam 

Dicitiu" invitus deseruishe casam. 
Respicit ille geniens hortum : Meliora relinquo, 

Heu, ait, infelix deteriora sequor. 
Talis erat generi huniano vix nomine notus 

Aglaus in parvo Dis bene notus agro. 
Namque Gyges Lydas, regum ditissimus oliin, 

Impius et scelerum prosperitate tumens. 
Ecquis, ait, toto me fortunatior orbe est? 

Hie Clariiun est ausus voce rogare deum. 
Numen adulari nescit; feiicior, iuquit 

Aglaus. Ille furens, Aglaus iste quis est? 
An sit eo quisquam rex nomine quserit? At illo 

Rex certe dictus nomine nullus erat. 
An sit eo quisquam dux belli nomine clarus, 

Aut superis tracta nobilitate potens? 
Anne aliquis pra;dives opum nulloque periclo 

Inter inexhaustas luxuriosus opes? 
Nullus erat talis generis .splendore, vel armis, 

Divitiisve potens ; Aglaus iste quis est? 
At tandem Arcadiie vix nota in valle repertus, 

(Arcadas alta quies umbraque densa tegit.) 
Strenuus exigui cultor prope Psophida fundi 

(Psophida .sed tantum viderat ille semel.) 
Invidia regum dignissinuis ille rejjertus, 

Teste deo felix, Aglaus ille fuit. 
Talis, niagne dcus, (si te mihi dicere fas sit 

Ridicidorum inter iiomina vana deum) 
Talis, vere dcus, nunc inclinautibus annis 

Sit, precor, setatis scena suprema meie, 



NOTES. 231 

Finis inutiliuni mihi sit, precor, ilia laborum 

Jactatae statio firma sit ilia rati. 
Sic mea caelestem praegustet vita quietem, 

Dormiat et montem discat amare suum. 

28. the old Corycian yeoman. The allusion is to Vergil Gcorg. 
IV. 127 and following lines. Corycus was a town in Cilicia. 

Page 119. 

I. Abdolonymus. A gardener (mentioned by Quintus Curtius 
IV. I. 19 and by Justin XI. 10. 8) who was of royal descent, though 
he lived in retirement. The ' great emperour ' was Alexander the 
Great, who made him king of Sidon. 

II. Aglaus, a poor man of Psophis in Arcadia. Gyges was 
king of Lydia. The story, which is found in Pliny H. N. vii. 47 
and in Valerius Maximus vii. i. 2, is told in the text. 

14. consigned. The verb 'consign' is now most commonly 
used in a bad sense, e.g. 'consigned to perdition.' But cf. Jer. 
Taylor, Great Exemplai', pt. i. 6, 'By baptism we are consigned to 
the mercies of God.' 

34. Sopho, i.e. Psophis. 

Page 120. 

6. foolish gods. The heathen divinities, of which mention is 
made in the stories just narrated. 

1 1 . earnest. A pledge in the present of something to happen 
in the future. Thus a quiet life here is to be the pledge of heavenly 
rest hereafter. See also p. 122, 1. 30, and cf. Shakes. Macb. i. 3. 104, 

'And for an earnest of a greater honour 
He bade me call thee thane of Cawdor.' 



V. The Garden. 

Page 121. 

13. siudiis <bc. 'To Hourish in pursuits of inglorious case.' 
From Verg. Georg. iv. 564. 

This essay is addressed to Mr John Evelyn, the author of the 
famous diary, to which reference has been already made, p. 20, 1. i. 
He had published in 1664 his Kalendarium Hortense, to which he 
prefixed a letter to Cowley, alluded to p. 122, 1. 17 — 19. The 
present essay is Cowley's acknowledgement. 

20. inn. A hired house is so called by Cowley, because he 
cannot treat it and its surroundings as if they were his own. 

Page 122. 

5. The quotation is from Genesis xix. 10, and the allusions are 
to the history of Lot's flight from Sodom. 



232 AZOTES. 

9. Pindaj'ical. In the style of Pindar. HighfloAvn and fanci- 
ful. 

II. like a chymist. In the infancy of chemistry many of the 
experiments were probably failures, and the alchemist never found 
his great end, the philosopher's stone. 

19. as long as months and years. Being a calendar, and 
guiding the works of the garden, which were unchanging. 

26. to the main. To have the chief part of the estate, i.e. to 
be specially distinguished above the rest of your literary progeny. 

29. that book, which you are pleased to promise. The allusion 
is to the ' Compleat Gardener,' which, however, Evelyn did not give 
to the world fur nearly 30 years, viz. in 1695. 

Page 124. 

8. a Louvre or Escurial. See above p. 105, 1. 24. 

10. Babel. ' Whose top may reach unto heaven,' Gen. xi. 4. 

20. the first city Cain. Gen. iv. 17. Cowley is never weary of 
repeating this. See above p. 61, 1. 16. 

24. lion-star. The constellation Leo. See p. 116, 1. 20, and 
also on the dog- star, mentioned in the next line. 

Page 125. 

9. poets live unthout reward or thanks. Cowley's own case was 
an instance in point, and the words are no doubt written with that 
feeling. 

13. base. We now write ' bass, ' but thereby obscure the meaning 
and connexion of the word, as the foundation part of the entire 
harmony. 

16. theorbo. A kind of musical shell fitted with strings, from 
the Fr. theorbe. Cf. Drayton, Polyolbion 4 : 

' Some that delight to touch the sterner wiry chord 
The cythern, the pandore, and the theorbo strike.' 

See also Evelyn's Diary, 11 July, 1654, 'At All Souls where we 
had music, voices and theorbos performed by some ingenious scholars.' 

27. See Verg. yEn. I. 691—694. 

Page 126. 

8. female men. Alluding to effeminate, scented dandies. 

10. Epicurus. See above p. 76, 1. 5. Cowley hints in the 
words which follow that Epicurus' meaning, when he called 
pleasure the chief good, ought to be interpreted by his definition of 
what pleasure is. 

1 7. Vitellius his table. On this manner of forming a possessive 
case, see above p. 16, 1. 7. 

Aulus Vitellius, a Roman officer duruig the reigns of Tiberius, 
Caligula, Claudius and Nero. His great talent was eating and 
drinking, and he spent enormous sums of money on the pleasures of 



NOTES. 233 

the table. Hence his table is called ' fiscal ' partly because of its 
costliness, and partly because it taxed largely the resources of the 
whole empire for its supply. 

28. listed^ enlisted, included in a list. 

30. the third story high. Because the dessert, consisting of 
fruits, formed the third course at dinner in Cowley's day. 



Page la;. 

3. the great Hebrew king, i.e. Solomon. The allusions which 
follow are to his entertainment of the Queen of Sheba. Sheba was 
probably part of Arabia, hence it lay south of Judaea. On the 
history, see i Kings x. Assyria and Babylonia were wealthy nations 
in Solomon's day, and he drew much of his gold and precious stones 
from Ophir. 

13. Hirani's princely dy. Hiram, king of Tyre, was a great 
friend of Solomon, and helped him both in building the Temple 
and his own dwelling, as well as in fitting out a fleet to go to Ophir. 
The Tyrians were famous for their skill in dyeing, Tyrian purple 
being celebrated in all lands. 

23. one, that would not be so rich. The allusion is to Christ's 
words in the Sermon on the Mount (S. Matth. vi. 29), 'Even 
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these (lilies of 
the field);' 

Page 128. 

I. The arbor vitic, which Cowley assumes to have been the 
tree which was in Paradise. 

21. staff and shield. The corn from which bread, the staff of 
life, is made, and the simples, herbs, which cure, as Cowley says, 
nearly every kind of disease. 

27. the third dafs volume of the book. The book of creation 
(Gen. i.) tells how on the third day, grass, herbs and fruit-trees 
were created. 

28. intend, 'to stretch,' 'strain,' ' exert to the full.' Hence a 
person earnestly gazing is said to be ' intent ' upon something. 



Page 129. 

I. the flowers of heaven. The stars. It was held that the stars 
influenced the destiny oi men, and that according to the ascendency 
of certain planets at their birth, such would men's fortune in life be. 
Hence arose what was known as judicial astrology, and the fortune- 
telling after this sort has not entirely died out. Cowley with his 
love for plants, and a knowledge of their medicinal properties, 
suggests that these 'stars of earth' have more to do with the welfare 
of mankind than the stars in heaven. 

27. The allusion is to the sportive nymph, Galatea, described 
in Verg. Georg. ill. 64 — 72. 



234 NOTES. 

Page 130. 

1. Daphne's coyness. In the mythological story, Daphne, the 
daughter of the river-god Peneus, was changed into a laurel-tree to 
escape from Apollo (Ovid, Met. i. 452). Cowley uses her name to 
designate the laurel. 

7. Diodesian. The Emperor of Rome, a.d. 284. The early 
part of his reign was signalized by much severity. He resigned the 
imperial power in A.D. 305, and lived in retirement at Salona in 
Dalmatia, near which place he had been born. Aurelius Victor 
{de C(BS. 39 Epit. 39) has preserved the story of his being urged to 
resume his throne once more. To this request he answered, 'If you 
could see the vegetables planted by my own hands at Salona, you 
would never think of urging such a petition.' 

20. rod, i.e. rode. 



VI. Of Greatness. 



Page 131. 

2. Sieiir de Montagne. Michael Eyquem de Montaigne, born 
1533, was a famous French moral philosopher. His most famous 
work is his 'P'.ssays'. He died in 1592. His Essays are greatly 
characterised by the tone of jesting manifest in the sentence which 
Cowley quotes. Montaigne's words are (Bk. iii. chap. 7), 
' puisque nous ne la pouvons atteindre, vengeons nous a en mesdire.' 

10. convinced, i.e. convicted, proved guilty. Cf. St John viii. 
46, ' Which of you convinccth vie of sinV Also St James ii. 9, ' Ye 
commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. ' 

Page 132. 

3. Di bene fccenint dr. Horace SaL I. 4. 17, 'The gods have 
acted kindly in making me of a poor and lowly mind.' 

12. dona roba. A term in the mouths of swaggerers to signify 
a grandly handsome woman. Cf. Shakes. 2 Hen. IV. ill. 2. 26, 

'We knew where the bona robas were.' 
Florio's Dictionary. Buona robba, as we say ' good stuff,' i.e. a 
good wholesome plump-cheeked wench. 
15. Parvnla d'c. Lucr. iv. 1158, 

• A tiny, a fairy, one of the Graces, all pure sparkling wit.' 

18. Seneca the elder, i.e. Marcus Annteus Seneca, father of the 
more famous Seneca, the tutor of Nero. Seneca the elder was born 
at Corduba in Spain, and was famous as a rhetorician in the times 
of Augustus and Tiberius. The writings of Seneca have come down 



NOTES. 235 

to us only in fragments. The account of Senecio which Cowley 
repeats is found in the Stiasoriariaii Liber Suas. 11. 

30. horse- plums. The prefix 'horse' is added to various terms 
to indicate unusxial size, as 'horse-radish,' 'horse-chestnut,' 'horse- 
laugh.' Similar use was made of ^ovs,=ox, in Greek. Cf. ^ovXifxia, 
^ovirats, ^ov(pdyos. So 'pound-pears' are named because of their 
unusual weight of a pound each. 

32. chiopins. From the Italian cioppini. A kind of high shoe 
worn by ladies. Spelt also 'chopine' and 'chippine.' Cf. Shakes. 
Ham. II. 1. 447, 'Your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I 
saw you last, by the altitude of a c/wpine.' 

So Ben Jonson, Cynthia s Revels, ii. 2, 'I do wish myself one 
of my mistresse's cioppini. ' 

And Fuller's Worthies, Wales generally, 'After she has put off 
her lofty attire, and high chippines, she almost pares away herself to 
nothing.' 

Page 133. 

I. cognomentum. Using a longer word, instead of a short one, 
after the fashion of Senecio's mania. 

Page 134. 

1. the keeping of little singing birds. The allusion is to one of 
the amusements of Louis xiii. of France. 

7. gods too. Because they were each at death styled divus. 
See also below on 1. 31 and p. 135, 1. 9, 14. 

10. in catching of flics. This is said (Sueton. Doniitian 3) to 
have been the frequent occupation of the Emperor Domitian. So 
that it was wittily remarked by Vibius Crispus, when the inquiry 
was made whether any one was in the emperor's room, 'Not even 
a fly.' 

12. Beelzebub. The name signifies ' lord of flies.' 

22. divine voice. Vox eeriest is was the language which the 
imperial flatterers applied to Nero's singing. See Tac. Ann. xvi. 
22 ; XIV. 15 ; Suet. Nero, 21. 

26. the Cccsarian race of deities. Nero was the last of the 
emperors sprung from the family of Csesar. Their names were 
Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caius (Caligula), Claudius, Nero. 

28. Alas dfc. ' Qualis artifex pereo ! ' (Suet. Nero, 49). 

31. madnesses of Caligula's delight. The disorder of Caligula's 
brain was shewn by his appearance in public in the garb of a god, 
as Bacchus, Apollo, Jupiler, or even Venus and Diana. He placed 
himself between the statues of Castor and Pollux and commanded 
people to worship him. His madness also manifested itself in his 
extravagant expenditure. 

32. sordidness of Tiberius. Cowley here alludes to the life of 
Tiberius in his retirement at Capreiie. He was surrounded by a 
troop of Chaldaean soothsayers in whom he put great confidence, 
and gave himself up to unnatural excesses. Cf. Suet. 71b. 431 — 45. 



236 NOTES. 



Page 135. 

3. iwunding-stones, i.e. stones M'hich could be tossed about 
and made to rebound. Suetonius in his life of Augustus, (98), says 
that apples, cakes, and other things were thrown about in this 
imperial hilarity. 

19. cafes, dainties, delicious food. Cf. Shakes. Coin, of Errors, 
III. 1. 28, 'Though my cates be mean, take them in good part.' 

34. ivanscot. We now write wainscot. 



Page 136. 

18. sed quantum dtc. Verg. Georg. 11. 291. 
27. cousenage. We write now cozenage. 

29. Mancipiis <&c. Horace Epist. T. 6. 39. The line is sub- 
stantially translated below. 

Page 137. 

15. Says Solomon. Eccl. V. ir, 'When goods increase, they 
are increased that eat them.' 

17. like Ocnus in the fable. The reference is to an allegorical 
picture by Polygnotus, mentioned by Pausanias X. 29. 2, and by 
Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxv. 31 (11). 

25. Pic of TeJiariff. The P'rench form of the word Pic had 
not in Cowley's time given place to the English Peak. 

31. Ossa upon Olympus. See above on p. 32, 1. 14. 



Page 138. 

3. the late gyant of our nation. The allusion is to Oliver 
Cromwell, on whose career, and Cowley's opinion thereon, see 
above, 'Discourse by way of vision' with the notes. 

20. an idol is nothing in the world, i Cor. viii. 4. 



Page 140. 

7. Damocles. A flatterer of the elder Dionysius the tyrant of 
Syracuse. On one occasion Damocles had been praising the 
felicity of Dionysius, whereupon the latter invited him to a magnifi- 
cent banquet, but in the midst of the entertainment Damocles 
discovered a naked sword suspended above his head by a single hair. 
Thus did the tyrant forcibly demonstrate the real character of the 
happiness which had been so much lauded. 

13, over-noise. Ue noisy enough to drive away your fears. The 
word is an unusual one. 



NOTES. 237 



Page 141. 



3. Lef Mars and Satuni.. .conjoyn- An allusion to the suppc'sed 
influence of the stars on the fortunes of mankind. The Martial and 
Saturnine conjunction in the sky might portend war and trouble, 
but the Jovial influence within the man's heart is superior to all 
external powers and nothing can disturb him. 



VII. Of Avarice. 

Page 142. 

4. refunding. In the literal sense of the Lat. refiindere^ ' to 
pour back again.' 

12. excern. To separate, to draw away. So Bacon, On 
Learnings bk. IV. c. 3, ' The body of a living creature assimilates 
that which is good, for it excerneth what is unprofitable.' Also Ray, 
On the Creatioit, pt. 2, speaks of ' humours excerncd by sweat.' 
Here Cowley means that the covetous man derives from his wealth 
something which he thinks satisfactory. 

Page 143. 

7. Desiint d'c. Cowley is mistaken in assigning these words to 
Ovid. They are found in the Controversice of the elder Seneca, VII. 
3. (Basil, 1557, p. 609). 

12. Somebody says, St Paul, 2 Cor. vi. 10. 

13. antipode. In the sense of 'opposite,' 'contrary.' I have 
not met with the singular anywhere else. 

18. The rich poor man &c. \Yith the exception of a transposi- 
tion of the two adjectives, we have the line (in the same sense) p. 
146, 1. 27. 

Page 144. 

2. Horace's first satire. The passage translated is I. i. 1 — 79. 

Page 145. 

5. pismire. The ant or emmet. So called in line 15 below. 

8. strait. Straightway, at once. 

Page 147. 

20. almighty-ship. A word apparently coined by Cowley, in 
the sense of 'omnipotence.' 

Page 148. 

3. The prudent Macedonian king. Philip of Macedon, father 
of Alexander the Great. His boast was that no town was impreg- 



238 NOTES. 

liable into which an ass laden with ^old could be introduced. Cicero 
gives the story, ad Attic lun I. 16. 12. 

5. petal'. We now write 'petard.' The Italian is peiardo. 
It was an engine, charged with explosives, and used for bursting 
open strong gates. So Drayton, Battle of Agincotirt, 
'The engineer providing the petard 
To break the strong portcuUice.' 
Also Shakes. Hamlet, in. 4. 207, 

'To have the engineer hoist with his own pctar.'' 

10. creattire, i.e. subject, owning it for a master. Cf. Shakes. 
Tim. I. I. 116, 'This fellow here, lord Timon, this \\vj creattireh'^ 
night frequents my house.' 

■21. The vast Xerxcaii army. Cowley compares towns and 
courts, with their crowds, to the army which Xerxes led to Ther- 
mopylse, and which is said to have numbered 5,283,220. These 
were resisted and defeated in the pass of Thermopylae by Leonidas, 
king of Sparta, and the Laconian troops, numbering about 5,000, 
of whom 300 were from Sparta. These the poet compares to the 
poor who 'hold the streights of poverty.' 

24. Sellers, i.e. cellars. 

27. See above on p. 143, 1. 18. 



VIII. The Dangers of an Honest Man in much 

Company. 

Page 150. 

5. cap a pe, i.e. cap a pie, from head to foot. 
II. campagne. The level plain country, li. campagna. Other 
forms of the word are ' champain,' ' champaign.' 

Page 151. 

13. Toupinaiiibaltians. A people formei-ly dwelling in Central 
America, near Brazil. Their name is variously written, Tupini)nhie^ 
TupinambcP, Tovopinambantii, Toropinambuti^ and Toiipinamboiis. 
See Moreri's Lexicon, under the last form. 

Page 152. 

I. topick. A general idea. The word comes from the Gk. 
TOTToi, which Cicero (7^/. ii. 8) translates by 'loci' and defines 
thus, ' loci, e quibus argumenta promuntur,' also as ' argumenti 
sedes.' 

9. Go to dbc. Gen. xi. 4. 

13. a concourse of thieves. Romulus offered an asylum to all 
those who from other places chose to take refuge with him. The 
other allusions in the sentence are to the birds seen by Romulus and 



NOTES. 239 

Remus when they were looking for omens at the foundation of the 
city, and to the slaying of Remus by his brother. 

17. first toxvn. See on p. 61, 1. 16. 

30. at all pieces. We now more usually say 'at all points.' 

Page 153. 

13. Quid Romcc d;c. 'What can I do at Rome? I don't know 
how to lie.' From Juv. Sat. ill. 41. 

22. Honest and poor d'c. Martial, £pi^. iv. 5, 'Vir bonus et 
pauper &c.' 

Page 154. 

3. Lucretius. The allusion is to Lucr. ii. i. 

'Suave mari magno turbantibus sequora ventis 
E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem.' 

6. Democritiis. The philosopher of Abdera. He flourished 
about 430 B.C. He was famed among other things for looking 
ever at the cheerful or comical side of affairs. 

10. Bedlam, i.e. Bethlehem hospital, for the insane. See 
above p. 23, 1. 10. 

28. ut nee facta d'c. A quotation from Cicero ad Afficum^ 
XV. II. 3. 

33. qua terra pafet (&c. Ovid, Met. I. 241. 

Page 155. 

3. As the Scripture speaks. See r Kings xxi. 20; 2 Kings 
xvii. 17; Rom. vii. 14. 

10. Sir Philip Sydney. The famous Elizabethan soldier and 
writer, a friend and contemporary of Spenser, who dedicated more 
than one of his works to him. The Countess' of Feinbroke's Arcadia 
is the pastoral romance alluded to by Cowley, in which rural life 
is painted as of unbroken felicity. 

11. Monsieur d' Urfe. Honore d'Urfe, count of Chateauneuf, 
born 1572, wrote a romance called Astrcea^ something in the same 
style as Sydney's Arcadia. The scene is laid on the river Lignon, 
a tributary of the Loire in La Forrest 

14. Chertsea. Now written Chertsey. It is a small town in 
Surrey, on the Thames, where Cowley retired towards the close of 
his life. 

19. in the Court (&c. i.e. among courtiers or merchants, or the 
legal crowd that throng Westminster-hall. 

24. St PauVs advice, i Cor. vii. 29. 

28. mundum ducere. Here Cowley alludes to a Latin mode of 
expression. When a man marries he is said uxorem dticere, i.e. 'to 
lead ' (as if he were the head) his wife ; whereas the woman was 
said marito tiubere, ' to veil or cover herself ' for her husband, and thus 
admit his superiority. Thus Cowley says men must bear themselves 
to the world. They must lead not follow. 



240 NOTES. 



Page 156. 

r. The passage is from Claudii Claudiani Epigraminata ir. 

26. Benaciis. A lake in Gallia Transpadana, not far from 
Verona. But near though it be the old man has not seen it, any 
more than the Red Sea. 

27. a third age. That is, he lives to be known among his 
grandchildren. 



IX. The Shortness of Life and Uncertainty of 

Riches. 

Page 157. 

14. Pas de Vie. The strait (narrow term) of life, as the narrow 
strip of water at the Straits of Dover is named the Pas de Calais. 
More force still is given to the remark when it is remembered that 
pas = Q. step. 

16. Pindar. Pythian Viii. 135. 

17. Ou7' Saviour botcnds our desires. By teaching us to pray 
only for daily bread. Also (Matth. vi. 34) 'Take no (undue) thought 
for the morrow.' 

Page 158. 

2. tarn hrevi &c. Adapted from Horace, Odes II. 16. 17. 

4. Millenaries. The Millenarians, or Chiliasts, believed that 
Christ would come to reign with His saints a thousand years upon 
earth. This was to take place before the general resurrection, 
though there must be a resurrection of the saints preceding it. 
Their notion was founded upon the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse. 

5. the patriarchs. Their lives were very long. The longest is 
that of Methuselah (Gen. v. 27), which was 969 years. 

21. As we are taught. Psalm xc. 12. 

27. Spatio brevi dJc. The passage, which is translated in the 
next line, is from Horace Odes i. 11. 6. 

33. Vitce summa d'c. From Horace, Odes i. 4. 16. 

34. 0! quanta (&c. 'Oh, how great is the madness of those 
who lay the foundation of long hopes.' 

Page 159. 

2. Settecio, see above p. r32, 1. 19. 

ir. Insere (&c. Verg. Ed. i. 73. 

13. graff. We now write 'graft.' For the older foim cf. 
Rom. xi. 23, 'God is able to ^/v?^ them in.' Cf. also 'engraft' below 
p. 160, 1. 23. 

17. poor rich man in St Luke. Luke xii. 16 — 20. 



NOTES. 241 



Page 161. 



I. husband. A thrifty person, an economist. Cf. Shakes. 
Taming of the Shretu v. i. 71, ' While I play the good husband at 
home, my son and my servant spend all.' 

II. /raz/a//, i.e. travel. 

X. The Danger of PROCRAS'ftNATioN. 

Page 163. 

7. ierugo mem, i.e. 'nought but rust.' 

14. cuvi dignitate othun. 'Ease with dignity.' 

15. Joshua. Alluding to Josh. X. 12. 

19. two sixes. The highest throw of the dice, and so making a 
man a winner. 

Page 164. 

4. Idomeneus. He was of Lampsacus, and was a disciple and 
friend of Epicurus. (See Diog. Laert. X. 23. 25.) 

27. iitere veils. Juvenal I. 149. 

30. beaten up, \. e. attacked, broken into. 

31. ba7td, A neckcloth and collar. 

Page 165. 

I. Festina lente, i.e. hasten slowly. 

7. sapere aude. Horace, Epist. i. 2. 40. The whole passage 
is translated 1. 17 etc. 

II. portajn dc. From Varro, De re rustic a, i. 2. 2. 

Page i66. 

3. Jam eras dr. Persius Sat. v. 68. , , 1.. j 

14. Triarii. Soldiers in a Roman army, who formed the third 
rank from the front, and so did not come into the conflict so soon as 
those of the two foremost ranks. Hence the remark in the text. 

Page 167. 

5. preposterous. According to the literal meaning of the Lat. 
prcEpostertis : reversing the order of things, putting the last first. 

XI. Of Myself. 

Page 169. 
10. An ode. The quotation below is from Cowley's Sylvcty and 
is entitled 'A Vote' by which the author means *a wish' or 'a 
prayer. ' 

16 



L. C. 



242 NOTES. 

Page 170. 

2. Sabine. See above p. no, 1. 20. 

12. out of Horace. Hor. 6*^. ill. 29. 41 — 48. 

Page 171. 

5. violent piihlic storm. It was in 1643, or perhaps the year 
before, in the midst of the civil war, that Cowley was obliged to leave 
Cambridge. ^ 

10. one of the best persons. Lord Jermyn, afterwards earl of 
St Albans. (See Introduction.) 

1 1 . one of the best princesses. Queen Henrietta Maria. 

27. rid, i.e. rode. In a previous passage, p. 130, 1. 20, Cowley 
wrote rod. 

Page 172. 

3. Well then. This poem is from Cowley's Mistress, and is 
entitled 'The Wish.' 

Page 173. 

20 Apollo was the god of poetry and music, as well as of 
prophecy. 

22. Thou neither great. The extract is from the poem on 
*Destinie' in the Pindarick Odes of Cowley. 

Page 174. 

15. Be7i. That is, Ben Jonson, a later contemporary of Shake- 
speare, and author of many dramas, the best known of which is 
'Every Man in his humour.' Jonson died in 1637. 

17. acquit, i.e. accomplish, effect. The verb in this sense is 
not often found. 

25. No7i ego d'c. Hor. Od. ii. 17. 10. 

Page 175. 

13. qttantum sufficit, i.e. just sufficient. 

19. a vestal flatne. A repetition of the idea 'Let constant fires ' 
in the previous line. The fire on the altar of Vesta was kept ever- 
burning. 

27. ana. A term in use in medical prescriptions to signify 
* equal quantities' of any ingredients. 

Page 176. 
30. the other three, i. e. the elements of air, earth and water. 

Page 177. 

3. score. Count up and make into a total. The word in 
modern days is largely confined to the game of cricket. Cf. Shakes. 
Othello IV. I. 130. Have you jw/v^/me? (i.e. made up my reckon- 
ing.) 



NOTES. 243 



Preface to 'Cutter of Coleman Street.' 

Page 178. 

I. a comedy calVd the Guardian. This was acted in Trinity 
College before Prince Charles, in March 164^, the prince being then 
rather less than twelve years old. 

4. the troubles. Euphemistic for 'the civil war and the Common- 
wealth times.' 

10. this nezu name. Cutter of Coleman Street. Cutter is one 
of the characters in the play, described in the list of dramatis 
persona as "a merry, sharking fellow about the town, pretending to 
have been a Colonel in the King's army." He has a comrade of the 
same kidney, called Worm. 

Page 179. 

5. twenty years. On Cowley's service to the Royal cause during 
all the troubles, see ' Introduction.' 

17. ri7;;//««'</, i. e. unbroken, uniform. 

Page 180. 

6. Deacon Soaker. He is one of the characters in the play, and 
described as 'a little fuddling deacon.' 

12. t7uo sharks. These are Cutter and Worm. 

16. at London. The preposition sounds strange in our ears. 
We should say 'in London.' 

19. cavaliers. The name given to the adherents of the Royal 
party in the civil wars. 

33. will take no colour, i.e. cannot be made to wear any 
semblance of truth. Cf. above p. 142, 1, 18. 

Page 181. 

1. a true gentleman. This character in the play is Colonel 
Jolly, a gentleman whose estate was confiscated in the late troubles. 
Mrs Lucia is his niece, left under his guardianship, and the circum- 
stances alluded to in the preface are those in which the Colonel is 
tempted to take advantage of his authority as guardian to help him- 
self out of difficulties by means of her fortune. 

19. allay. We now write 'alloy,' but this is not the older 
spelling; cf. Ben Jonson, On Vulcan: 

'But thou'lt say, 
There were some pieces of as base allay 
And as false stamp there, parcels of a play 
Fitter to see the firelight than the day ; 
Adulterate moneys, such as would not go.' 

31. the lees of Romulus, 'faex Romuli'is found in Cicero ad 
Att. II. I. 8. 

Page 182. 

2. Sed d'c. 'But now was no place for these things.' From 
Wox^ice Ars Poetica ig. 



244 NOTES. 

8. ivhose skulls are not yet bare. In allusion to the custom of 
placing the heads of great offenders on London Bridge, Temple Bar, 
or elsewhere, and leaving them to be worn bare by the ravages of 
birds and the action of the weather. 

14. HarrisorCs return. The reference is to one of Cutter's 
speeches, in which he is professing to be one of the strictest of the 
Puritans, and uttering prophecies after the fashion of some of them. 

* I say again, I am to return, and to return upon a purple drome- 
dary, which signifies Magistracy, with an axe in my hand that is 
call'd Reformation, and I am to strike with that axe upon the gate 
of Westminster Hall, and cry, Down Babylon, and the building 
call'd "Westminster Hall is to run away, and cast itself into the river, 
and then Major General Harrison is to come in green sleeves from 
the North upon a sky-coloured Mule, which signifies heavenly 
instruction. ' 

16. wretchless, i.e. reckless. Cf. Hooker, Sermon (ii. -23) on 
Jude: *It is want of faith in ourselves, which makes us wretchless in 
building others.' 

Also Article xvii. in the Book of Common Prayer, '■ wretchlessness 
of most unclean living.' 

29. plant it almost xvholly with divinity. He alludes no doubt 
to the largest of his poems, the Davideis, a sacred poem of the 
troubles of David. No one can read these essays without being 
struck with the amount of Scriptural allusion and reference which 
they contain. We need go no farther for an illustration than lines 
9 and 10 of the next page. 

Page 183. 

13. piece. Not unfrequently used for some work of^art, a 
picture or a statue. Cf. Shakes. Winter's Tale, v. 2. 104, 'Her 
mother's statue... a piece many years in doing and now newly 
performed by that rare Italian master Julio Romano.' 

So Timon of Athens, I. i. 255 (of a picture) 'When dinner's 
done, shew me this piece. ' 

29. reparations. 'Cutter of Coleman Street' was the result 
of a remodelling of the former play 'The Guardian.' 

34. Tully says. Cicero's words are [Pis. 2.) 'fors domina 
campi.' 

Page 184. 

9. hrutals, i.e. brutish persons. An instance of an adjective 
used as a noun, which has fallen out of the language. Cf. p. 48, 
1. 16 above on ''intellectuals.^ 

16. the strictest conjurations of a paternal blessing. Meaning 

* I would conjure him, if he desired my blessing, to have done with 
this folly of poetry.' 

33. Qjii multis &c. The line, which is at once translated, is 
from Lucretius, de Rer. Nat. iii. 1038. 

Page 185. 

II. Jam dente d'c. 'Now am I less bitten by the tooth 01 
envy.' Horace, Odes lY. 3. 16. 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



a, ig7, 212 

Abdolonymus, ■231 

abused, 195 

acquit, 242 

against, 228 

agin, 228 

Aglaus, 231 

Alcides, 226 

Alexander the Great, 206 

allay, 243 

almighty-ship, 237 

ana, 242 

Anti-Paul, 215 

antipode, 237 

Anti Solomon, 208 

Antony, 206 

Apulia, 228 

Aristides, 223 

Aristotle, 188, 212 

arrive, 221 

Assyrian = Syrian, 227 

Astraea, 227 

Atalanta, 214 

Athaliah, 213 

Augustus, 223 

baily, 189 

banditos, 204 

Barebones' Parliament, 199 

base, 232 

^^aj/= beasts, 190 

Bedlam, 198, 239 

Beel-zebub, 235 

beholding, 224 

belight, to, 229 

Benacus, 240 

blood, circulation of, 190 

bloody cross, 214 

^ona-roba, 234 



bou7iding-s tones, 236 
Briareus, 202 
Bridewell, 219 
Broom, Alex., 222 
brother, use of, 196 
brutals, 244 
Bucephalus, 223 
by the by, 195 

Caligula, 235 
campagne, 238 
canozv, 204 
cates, 236 
Catiline, 215 
Cato, 193, 223 
Celsus, 193 
censure, 217 
chargeable, 207 
Charles I., 207 
Chartreux, 190, 207 
cheapen, 217 
Chertsea, 239 
chiopins, 235 
chirurgeon, 189 
civil, 226 
colour, 243 
colourably, 220 
Columella, 193 
commentating, \ 88 
commerce, 223 
commodity, 222 
compass, to take a, 2 20 
concernment, 193 
concur to, 212 
Coney, Mr, 210 
consign, 231 
contain, 203 
convittce, 234 
creature, 238 



246 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



Cromwell, 199, 200 
cynic, 212 
Cyrus, 206 

Damocles, 236 
dancing, 195, 225 
Daphne, 234 
decimation, 209 
deficient to, 211 
degenerous, 219 
Democritus, 222, 239 
denison, igz 
devotion, days of, 195 
diet, 190 
Dioclesian, 234 
Dioscorides, 194 
Directory, the, 197, 210 
Domitian, 235 
dof's, 216 
doubt, 194 
drink in, to, 227 
Dunkirk, 209 
D'Urfe, M., 239 

earnest, 231 
eikon basihke, 198 
elegies, 191, 224 
encounter with, 195 
engage into, 223 
entertainment, 1 90 
Epicurean, 212 
Epicurus, 218, 232 
epidemical, 217 
equal, 227 
Escurial, 226, 232 
Etruria, 228 
Eumaeus, 226 
Evelyn, John, 231 
eves, 226 
evince, 192 
excern, 237 
expenceful, 225 
expcnces, 195 
explode, 195, 207 

fantastical, 208 
fasces, 217 
favourite to, 213 
Faustus, 208 
Fawkes, Guy, 207 
field (in heraldry), 225 - 



fitches, 239 
forsook, 197 
fracture, 191 
French inconstancy, 198 
furnish, 192 

godwit, 228 
gowned war, 227 
graff, 240 
groom, 216 
Grotius, 193 
Guardian, the, 243 
gziest- guessed, 19S 
guilded, 219, 223 
guns, 189 

Hannibal, 220 

Harrison, General, 244 

Hartlib, Mr, 225 

Harvey, Wm., 188 

haut-goust, 212, 229 

hecatomb, 213 

Henrietta Maria Queen, 242 

Hermogenes, 194 

herse, 196 

Hiram, 233 

horse-plu7ns, 235 

hospital-like, 195 

humane, 187 

husband, 241 

idol, 197 
impertinent, 217 
hnplead, 202 
Incitatus, 223 
indifferently, 195 
indulging to, 193 
instance in, 225 
intellectuals, 207 
intend, to, 233 
Islington, 221 
iti)ierate, 191 

Jack o' the clock, 205 
Jamaica, 209 
Jermyn, Lord, 242 
Jews, 209 
Jonson, Ben, 242 

Laertes, 226 
Lambert, General, ^01 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



247 



iardry, 191 
Uaru/n, 207 
laveer^ 215 
lectures, 189 
Lepidus, 218 
Leviathans, 216 
Leyden, John of, 206 
Linternum, 220 
list, to. Ill 
London, 221 
Longinus, 194 
Louis XilL, 235 
Louvre, 226, 232 
lungs, 189 

Machiavelli, 212, 215 
Macrobius, 188 
main, 229 
major-generals, 211 
malignant, 213 
manciple., 189 
Manilius, 193 
Marius, 202 
masking, 217, 218 
Massaniello, 206 
Mathusalem, 213 
mediate, 187 
methonghts, 197 
Metrodorus, 218 
Millenaries, 240 
mot7ientany, 202 
Mona, 197 
Montaigne, 220, 234 
Mortlake, 229 
mosquito, 210 
moss troopers, 2 1 o 
mulct, 192 
murtherer, 225 

Naseby, 198 
natural magic, 191 
Nemetianus, 193 
Nero, 208, 235 
Nicander, 194 
nomenclator, 215 
numbei-'s tree, 221 

Ocnus, 236 
Octavius, 205 
Oenomaus, 218 
on, 202 



operatories, 190 
Oppianus, 194 
Organon, Bacon's, 192 
ortolans, 228 
£i/i^(?r= others, 218 
over-noise, 236 

painful, 216 
parcel, 193, 224 
parricides, 221 
peas on, 229 
Pelias, 204 
petar, 238 
phrensie, 211 
piece, 244 
pileus, 219 
pin, to, 228 
Pindarick, 220, 232 
pismire, 237 
place, to take, 192 
Platonical, 212 
Pliny, 193 
portraicture, 191 
possessive case, 194 
pounces, 213 
preposterous, 241 
pretend, 190 
Printing, 189 
purchase, 188 

quell, 198 
quotidian ague, 223 

refund, 237 

reliques, 196 

Remus, 228 

retire, 220 

Rhodian Colossus, ■Jig 

right, 230 

Sabine, 226, 228 
Saturnalia, 217 
Scaliger, 194 
scholars, 189, 195 
sciomachy, 203 
Scipio, 206, 220 
score, 242 
scutcheon, 223 
Seneca, 193, 234 
shipmoney, 210 
Sydney, Sir Philip, 239 



248 



INDEX TO THE NOTES. 



sight-shot^ 212 
simples, 191 
Solomon, 233 
Solomon's house, 191 
Stoical paradox, 214 
Strafford, Lord, 203 
strait, 237 
Sulla, 202, 208 
stvard, 229 
syllogism, 204 

table cThost, 216 
tanker-woma?i, 222 
Tempe, 227 
///<?« = than, 187 
Theophrastus, 194 
theorbo, 232 
thorough, 220 
thj-eat {v), 198 
Tiberius, 235 
Tibur, 226 
topic k, 238 

Toupinambaltians, 238 
travail, 241 
travel, 195 
Triarii, 241 
triennial, 192 
tropes, 224 



troth, 229 
Turk, 199 
Tyrian luxury, 227 

unbirdly, 219 

iimiseful, 193 

use (n), 228 

7/se (v), 195, 199, 208 

Utopian, 212 

vails, 208 
Varro, 193 
veins, milky, 191 
Vergil, 226 
virtue, 204 
virtuoso, 196 
visions, 197 
Vitellius, 232 
Vulgar errors, 194 

weathers, 219 
whiles t, 223 
white, to hit the, 220 
Whitehall, 226 
woad, 198 
wretchless, 244 

Zopyrus, 215 



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